We turn in the sacred scriptures this evening to Jeremiah chapter 5. The text is really the whole of the chapter, although the primary focus is upon verse one, which sets the tone for the rest of the chapter. Let's read now the fifth chapter of Jeremiah. Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof if ye can find a man If there be any that executed judgment that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it. And though they say the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely. O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved. Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. they have refused to return. Therefore, I said, surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God. I will get me unto the great men and will speak unto them, for they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God. But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. Wherefore, a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them. A leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone that goeth out fence shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased. How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery. and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses. They were as fed horses in the morning. Everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Go ye up upon her walls and destroy, but make not a full end. Take away her battlements, for they are not the Lord's. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. They have belied the Lord and said, it is not he, neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword nor famine, and the prophets shall become wind and the word is not in them, thus shall it be done unto them. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people would, and it shall devour them. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. Their quiver is an open sepulcher. They are all mighty men. And they shall eat up thine harvest and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat. They shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds. They shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees. They shall impoverish thy fenced cities wherein thou trustest with the sword. Nevertheless, in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you. And it shall come to pass when ye shall say, Wherefore, doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? Then shalt thou answer them, like as ye have forsaken me, and serve strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, which have eyes and see not, which have ears and hear not, fear ye not Me, saith the Lord? Will ye not tremble at My presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? And though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail. Though they roar, yet can they not pass over it. But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart, they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, let us now fear the Lord our God that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in His season. He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. For among My people are found wicked men. They lay wait and see that set of snares. They set a trap. They catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore, they are become great and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine, yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked, they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper, and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord, Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means. And my people love to have it so. And what will ye do in the end thereof? Thus far we read the inspired scriptures. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the preceding chapter, as we considered last Sunday evening, God gave Jeremiah the ability to see the future utter desolation that would be brought. Total destruction. That destruction revealed to Jeremiah was realized in the Babylonian captivity. And ultimately, as we saw, it will be revealed in the day of Jesus Christ when indeed the earth again shall be made void. Without form and void, as Jeremiah saw. Complete judgment. Lest anyone level a charge against God, accusing Him of being unfair and unjust and even rash in His judgments and the threatenings of His judgments, Jehovah God issues a challenge to Jeremiah and really all the people of Jerusalem. If one can go through the streets of Jerusalem and find a faithful man, then God will pardon the city. This challenge will prove to be impossible to meet. And God must bring the total, complete desolation that He threatened. But in that challenge, God's justice will be vindicated. He will demonstrate that the judgment he will bring is necessary and just. God is a just God. Let's consider this fifth chapter and especially that first verse of chapter five under the theme challenged to find a faithful man. Notice first, the simple challenge. Secondly, the appalling discovery. And third, the divine purpose. This, says God, through Jeremiah to the people and to Jeremiah himself. Run ye, verse one, run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem. That verb, run to and fro, really has two ideas to it. One of them we will consider in a few moments. Both of the ideas contained in that verb can be illustrated in a scavenger hunt. The first idea of that verb as it's translated, run to and fro, means roam or rove about looking for something. It's the same verb used in connection with the activity of the Israelites after manna came down from heaven. They would roam or rove about the land looking for manna. Roam. Rove about. That's exactly what one does in a scavenger hunt. If, for example, he's given a piece of paper with some objects now, he goes out roaming, roving about, looking for the objects on the piece of paper. That's the idea. God says through Jeremiah, Go look about. And this is the particular object that one must find. A faithful man. If ye can find a man, verse 1, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth. A faithful man. First of all, one who executes judgment. That simply means one who does what's right. The man who executes judgment is the one who does what's right, who strives to do what is right in all situations. And one that seeketh truth. That word truth means fidelity or even faithfulness. The idea is one who's always seeking to be faithful. The emphasis is upon the activity. Try to find one who executeth, one who seeketh. The emphasis is upon that which the man does. Try to find a faithful man, that is, a man who is faithful to God, who tries to do what's right in all things. This is the challenge now. Go around roaming, roving about, looking, and you try to find a man who strives to be faithful. Where? Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof." Notice that God does not say, look in the temple. Look in the temple where undoubtedly there will be men bringing in sheep. And there will be blood flowing from the altar. And there will be psalms being sung. And the priest will be offering incense. And it ought to be pretty easy. And you would expect to find faithful men in the temple. That is, men who are trying to do what's right in the temple. Although, that's not even so certain. Because chapter 1, verse 16 told us that the priests were offering incense unto other gods. And we know that Manasseh set up an altar for Baal in the temple. And although Josiah is now on the throne and he has brought a great reformation, things are declining again, and maybe the altar to Baal was brought back in. It's no guarantee that they will even be able to find in the temple a man who's trying to do what's right. But that's not the challenge issued by God. He doesn't say, run ye to and fro through the temple of Jerusalem, but through the streets and through the broad places. Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Up and down. and then go into the broad places. That refers to the open public areas, the plazas, the marketplaces where there will be all kinds of people gathered and all kinds of hustle and bustle, men and women and children going about their everyday activities. You'll see men bartering, buying and selling, perhaps some women moving to and fro, maybe carrying some cakes of bread. Young people gathered in circles, maybe over an open scroll. They're talking about something. Boys and girls playing and running. Go up and down through the streets of Jerusalem. And then go into the broad places throughout the city. The plazas where you will see all of the people going about the everyday activities of life. And try to find one faithful man. Why? Because if one can be found, God will pardon the whole city. That's the end of verse 1. If He can find a man, if there be any that execute a judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it." And it refers to Jerusalem. God will pardon the city. In the previous chapter, God has threatened that He will bring this swift and terrifying and sudden and complete judgment. But God is so long-suffering and plenteous and mercy and gracious that He now offers this challenge even after that promise of judgment. He comes and He gives this challenge to Jeremiah and the people. If you can find one faithful man And I will pardon the city. This is urgent because God did promise that sudden judgment is coming and thus the text. Begins properly with the translation run. And now here's the second idea of that verb. The verb means roam about, looking for something. But the particular tense of the verb used indicates the necessity of action now. This is urgent. And so the King James rightly translates it, Run! Run ye to and fro. Just like a scavenger hunt now. You've got the objects. You go out looking for all of the objects, but there's a haste with which you seek because one wants to be back first. to get the prize. Run. Here now it is, run with urgency. Go up and down the streets and into all the broad places and try to find a faithful man because then God will pardon the city. He promised judgment. But if you can find a faithful man, He will pardon the city. And thus we have the challenge that God issued. Go through the whole city. in the streets and broad places and try to find one faithful man who strives to do what's right. This ought to be a simple challenge. That this is a simple challenge can be underscored by a consideration of other similar, but yet different challenges. Challenges which were much more difficult. First of all, there is the implied challenge of Lord's Days 4, 5, and 6 of the Heidelberg Catechism. In those Lord's Days, we are taught that all human beings by nature are totally depraved. cannot do any good, are prone to all evil. And the only way for a sinner to be received back again into the favor of God and into the covenant of God is if he can be reconciled to God through a mediator. And the only mediator that can perform this work is one who has three qualifications. He must be, and the catechumens know this, perfectly righteous, very man, and very God. And there's an implied challenge there. Can you find a mediator who has these three qualifications and he's the only one who can reconcile you to God? And of course, that proves to be impossibly difficult. We can't find this mediator of ourselves. He must be given from God out of heaven. An impossible challenge. That's not the challenge God issued in Jeremiah 5. This isn't the challenge. Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and seek and try to find a man who is perfectly righteous and very God. Find a faithful man. He won't be perfect. There are no perfect men. Not a perfect man. Just try to find a faithful man. One who strives to do what's right. The challenge is not try to find the mediator. Try to find one who's absolutely perfect. That would be impossible to do. But this is a simple challenge. Try to find a faithful man. In second place, that this challenge is simple, can be understood from the sort of implied challenge that was given in connection with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The great wickedness of Sodom came up before the Lord God and He determined that He must destroy Sodom. And Abraham begins to plead with God. Lord God, if there can be found 50 righteous men in the city, will You spare the city? Yes. Forty-five? Yes. Forty? Yes. Thirty? Yes. Twenty? Yes. Ten? If there be ten righteous men in Sodom, will you spare the city? Yes. That would prove impossible. That sort of implied challenge. Can you find ten righteous men in the city of Sodom? Would prove impossible. There was only one righteous man. His name was Lot and he had to be dragged out of the city. He was the only one. It would prove to be impossible to find ten righteous men in the city of Sodom. That's not the challenge of the text. God is not issuing this challenge. Run ye to and fro through the streets of another kind of Sodom, say Babylon, or Nineveh, or the great capital of Egypt. That's not the challenge. And try to find ten righteous men. The challenge is, can you find just one faithful man? Just one? One? In Jerusalem? The city of peace. The city of the great King. The city of David. The city situated in the midst of the promised land. The inheritance of the covenant. The city wherein the temple is. And all of the kings and the prophets and the priests of God. the city to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises, for whom are the fathers, and for whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ would come, who is over all. God bless forever the great city of Jerusalem, that city which would one day be perfected. Be made into the new Jerusalem which is above. Can you find one faithful man in Jerusalem? Not that godless, reprobate city of filth and vile homosexuality and all manner of wickedness which is Sodom, and not ten righteous men, but can you find only one faithful man in Jerusalem? It ought to be. A simple challenge. In the third place, that this challenge would appear to be quite simple can be understood in the light of the challenge that God gave to Satan. A kind of implied challenge that God gave to Satan. Satan, as it were, was on a sort of scavenger hunt. Job 1 verse 7, And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. It's exactly What God is, the challenge God is issuing here, go up and down, go to and fro, go about the city of Jerusalem. That's what the devil, Satan, was doing throughout the whole earth. And God said in Job 1 verse 8, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like unto him in the earth, a perfect, that is blameless, And an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil. And there's a sort of implied challenge here to Satan. Can you find one like unto or more godly than Job? And God says of Job, there is none like unto him in all the earth. In the whole world, there is no man like Job. So godly a man, and the sort of implied challenge is can you find one like unto or more godly than Job? Impossible. Impossible. That's not the challenge of the text that God is now issuing. He doesn't say, run through the streets of Jerusalem and go into the broad places and try to find a man who is like unto or more godly than Jeremiah. No. Just try to find one faithful man who tries to do what's right, who strives after faithfulness. That ought to be a simple challenge. What if this challenge were issued today? Not this challenge. Go through the streets of Los Angeles, or San Francisco, or Las Vegas, and try to find one faithful man. Not that specifically, but go through that which calls herself, in the New Dispensation, the church. And not this, don't go to and fro up and down the aisles and in between the pew rows while worship is being conducted. Don't go into the temple, as it were. That's not a challenge. But go in the world, up and down the streets, and in the plazas where there are Christians. who call themselves Christians, who profess to be the children of God, and start roaming and roving and try to find a faithful man or woman. Maybe peek in a few windows. Maybe look over that wooden fence where those young men are gathered back there. Go to the office, peer around the cubicle, and pop in the lunchroom at break. Go in the office. Go to the job site. Go to the grocery store where Christians shop. The post office. The library. Go to the restaurant on a weekend. Why don't you swing past the playground during recess? And go past the athletic fields when a contest is being held. Go where there are Christians, those who confess to be Christians, going about the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and try to find one faithful man. Not a perfect man. One trying to do what's right. Striving to be faithful. That's the challenge of the text. There was an appalling discovery. Jeremiah, as it were, did go roaming and roving up and down, and the discovery was appalling. Among those whom Jeremiah saw, first of all, this is what he would see in the streets, in the broad places, first of all, those who were hypocritically denying Jehovah with their tongue. A faithful man, of course, would take the name of Jehovah upon his lips and strive to praise Jehovah, and speak the truth of Jehovah, and live as Jehovah requires. First of all, Jeremiah would find those who hypocritically deny Jehovah with their tongues. Verse 2, And though they say, The Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely. He'd find people in the city who said, The Lord lives! Jehovah lives! And then when it was time to swear an oath, they'd swear an oath by an idol god. Verse 7, how shall I pardon thee for this? Thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods. Not only the people, their children. You do this, but thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods. Jehovah lives! Now it's time to make an oath. I swear in the name of Baal. That's what one would hear. in the streets of Jerusalem. And they would lie about Jehovah. Verse 12, they have belied the Lord and said, it is not He. Neither shall evil come upon us. Neither shall we see sword nor famine. Jehovah lives! That's what you would hear in the streets. Jehovah lives! And then, right after that, And Jehovah will never bring judgment. He doesn't do that. He won't bring a sword. He won't bring a famine. He's loving. He's a tolerant God who can tolerate all things. And who's to say we're even sinning? And they would speak lies about who Jehovah God is and say He would not bring judgment. Jehovah lives! And then they would lie about Him. And this, one would see walking through the plazas of Jerusalem, hypocritical denials of Jehovah with the tongue. Secondly, strolling through the streets of Jerusalem, one would find those who were defiant in affliction. A faithful man would endure the hot chastening of God's hand while he is living in sin and repent. This is what Jeremiah saw. Verse 3, O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved. Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. They were like children who misbehave and then the father gives the child a spanking and immediately the child goes right back to his misbehavior and then turns around and defiantly smiles and laughs at his father. That's what the people were doing. They were being grievously afflicted, those who were impenitently continuing in their sin. Some sin in their life they were continuing. And Jeremiah would see this in the streets and in the plazas. Grievous afflictions coming upon those who were living in sin. And their response to the corrective hand of God was a face harder than rock. They would not acknowledge their sin. Though it was so clear, they would not repent. defiance in affliction. In the third place, walking through Jerusalem, one would see those shamelessly practicing adultery. Surely, in Jerusalem, one would find a faithful man who honors Jehovah and lives chastely. Verse 7, How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses." Now, regardless of whether or not anyone goes to a harlot's house, that there were harlot's houses in Jerusalem is itself telling. But it was worse. There weren't men sneaking to the harlot's houses under the cover of darkness, nor were they secretly running there during broad daylight. They would all get in line. And it's not as if they would haphazardly get in line the way one does at the post office, Verse 7 says that they assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses. And so if you walk down the street of Jerusalem, there would be the house of a harlot. And in a nice straight line, all of the men gathered waiting their turn to go in the harlot's house. Just like an army assembled like troops. The text is referring to the shrines set up for Baal, to spiritual adultery. As you walk down the streets of Jerusalem, you would find all kinds of men and women gathered in a nice straight line waiting to go pay homage to Baal. But where there was Baal worship, There was always literal sexual promiscuity. There was here, too. And that's further emphasized in verse 8. They were as fed horses in the morning. Everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife. They were as fed horses in the morning. Literally, as fed horses, mad with lust, in heat, They were as fed horses in heat now, neighing after others. The men were doing this. He would look over the fence and like a horse, neigh after the neighbor's wife. And across the street with his whistling and his gestures and all manner of behavior, he would neigh not merely after a woman, which is bad enough, but after his neighbor's wife. It wouldn't be surprising at all to discover that some of these wives were quite fond of that and dressed and acted appropriately so that they could get horses neighing after them and all this in the city of Jerusalem. In the fourth place, one walking through the streets would see those openly oppressing their neighbors. Verses 26 through 28, for among my people are found wicked men. They lay wait and see that set of snares. They set a trap. They catch men as a cage is full of birds. So are their houses full of deceit. They were going about openly defrauding their neighbors, setting traps for their fellow man, and defrauding them and getting all kinds of possessions and money so that 28 says they were wax and fat. They did shine. Yay! And now they don't use what they got through deceit to help the needy. They judge not the cause. the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper, and the right of the needy do they not judge, getting all kinds of gain through deceit, and yet they wouldn't help the needy, oppressing the neighbor." Maybe. Maybe there's an explanation for all this. And Jeremiah thinks he may have it. Here's the explanation. Verse 4, Therefore I said, surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. This is the explanation. Ignorance. These people don't know any better. They don't know the Word and the law of God. They're sinning out of ignorance. That can explain all this we see in the streets of Jerusalem. Aha! Verse 5, I will get me unto the great men, and I will speak unto them. For they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God. I will go where the prophets are gathered and where the priests are gathered, the office bearers of Jerusalem, those who had a seminary training, and those who have been brought up with the Word and the law of God, and they take it in their hands and they use it on a daily basis. And surely there I will be able to find a faithful man among the office bearers." End of verse 5. But these have all together broken the yoke and burst the bonds. As it were, the law of God was guiding them. It was their yoke and they were as oxen, chafing under the yoke. The office bearers in all of their daily life and in worship, chafing under the yoke and trying to destroy it and break the law of God, living in all immorality. And verse 31 says, the prophets prophesy falsely. The prophets saying whatever they want, and the priests bear rule by their means. Let's worship in the temple however we please as we see fit. Even the office bearers were full of immorality." We can find several examples in the chapter of summary statements of what could be found in Jerusalem. For example, verse 11, For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord." Treachery. Or how about verse 23? But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart. They are revolted and gone. But really, verse 30 and also verse 31 is the summary of all one would see in Jerusalem. A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land." Wonderful. Wonderful. That means you stand and look at what is in Jerusalem and you are filled, you are full of wonder. The word literally means appalling. 30, an appalling and A horrible thing is committed in the land. How could it be this bad? Appalling. The prophets prophesy falsely. And the priests bear rule by their means. And my people love to have it so. Ah, the people love this. They say, give us more. We want more hypocrisy. And more defiance. and more adultery, and more oppression, and more lies, and more false worship. My people love to have it so. And the summary of everything that can be found in Jerusalem is appalling. An appalling and horrible thing. An appalling discovery. This is the discovery. There is not one faithful man in the city. Therefore, God will not pardon the city. Therefore, judgment is coming. An appalling discovery. Was it literally true? that head for head in the city of Jerusalem, not one single faithful man could be found. That is, if you gathered all of the inhabitants of the city together and went head by head looking at every man, woman, and child, is it true that you would not be able to find one single faithful man? No. No. The evidence is obvious. There's Jeremiah. He's a faithful man. Josiah is on the throne, the godly king. He's a faithful man. They're not perfect. They're faithful. Baruch. We have not yet come across Baruch by name in the prophecy. Baruch, the faithful friend and secretary of sorts of Jeremiah, is a faithful man. Secondly, God promises in verse 18 and elsewhere that He will not make a full end with you. And God will not make a full end that is so destroyed the city that a restoration is impossible. He will not do that because He still has His people there. Thirdly, there is always a remnant preserved according to election. And this the Apostle Paul speaks of in similar circumstances in Romans 11. The Apostle is very grieved in his heart, as we saw this afternoon in Young Peoples, Romans chapter 9, because his kinsmen, according to the flesh, do not believe. But he says in Romans 11 verse 1, I say then, have God cast away His people? Are they all gone? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, even if All of the people of God are cast away. I know I'm here, and I'm an Israelite. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew, what ye not, with the scriptures saith of Elias. And now he's going to go back to the example of Elijah. Don't forget Elijah. How he make of intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. I'm the only godly man left in Israel. That's what Elijah said. No, no, no, no. No, I still have 7,000 faithful men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. But what? Saith the answer of God unto him, I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so, then, at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. In Israel, there was always that remnant according to the election of grace. And that's what the apostle falls back on now. Even now also, There's always that remnant according to the election of grace. God still had His people in the land, though that was a remnant. And though the remnant was so, so, so, so small. But don't overlook this. The remnant according to election, all of them, head for head, have a sinful nature. And because of their sinful nature and the great influence of so many ungodly men and women in the city, even the elect remnant can be tempted and led into an unfaithful life. And indeed, that was the case. And that too is why God had to bring His chastening judgment in love. Even the elect could have been, and certainly were, living unfaithfully. Maybe not all of them, but certainly most of them because of their wicked natures The challenge of God leads us to this appalling discovery that there is not one faithful man in the nation, not in absolute terms. But God is making sure that when Jeremiah goes up and down the streets, and when he goes into the plazas, he won't find a faithful man. God sees to it that he will not find a faithful man. And the idea is, the city as a whole is so immoral that as you look about the city and go up and down the streets and into the plazas, as you look about this city of Jerusalem, you will not find a faithful man. There may be some there, but they get lost in the crowd because the overwhelming majority are unfaithful. You will not find one. Jeremiah could not find one. Would one who goes searching today find something so appalling? That is, if one should go searching where there are those who profess to be Christians today, would he find something similar as far as everyday activity? The sad reality is that as apostasy continues to grow in Christendom at large in these last perilous days, more and more, it is becoming difficult to find one who professes to be a Christian and yet is faithful in his everyday life in the streets and in the plazas. More pointed, however, is the question, what would one find among us. From the front yard, to the athletic fields, to the restaurant, to the job site, to the schoolyard, as far as dress and conduct and language and godliness, In general, what if Jeremiah were to stroll up and down our streets, that is, through Southern California where it can be found, we Protestant Reformed people, what would Jeremiah find? The text is obviously a sharp warning to all of us. What discovery would be made? There is a divine purpose in all of this. First of all, for Jeremiah and Jerusalem. A divine purpose. The purpose, first of all, in this challenge, is to reveal the total depravity of Jerusalem. The biblical doctrine of total depravity asserts that every man by nature is prone to all evil and can do no good. That is, he is dead. Apart from the transforming grace of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the totality of the individual man is depraved. Apart from the transforming grace of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the totality of mankind as a whole is depraved. In a powerful way, God was showing Judah that not only is the totality of Gentile mankind depraved from Sodom to Nineveh, but God is showing now that the totality of mankind in Jerusalem is depraved. That's the revelation of Jeremiah chapter 5. That's the divine purpose in this challenge. To reveal to all that the depravity in Jerusalem is total. Secondly, the divine purpose is to reveal not only the necessity, but the justice of the future coming destruction. God promised that if there could be found in the city one faithful man, He would pardon the city and avert judgment. But there could not be found one, and so judgment must come. There are all kinds of passages in the chapter which speak of judgment. Passage after passage, judgment will come. Now, by issuing this particular challenge, God is not allowing any man to level the charge against Him that He is unfair and unjust and rash. and unloving in His judgment that He threatens. But may every mouth be stopped. And may God be exalted now in His justice. That's the divine purpose in this challenge. To reveal that the coming judgment is just and necessary. And finally, The divine purpose, because God promises He will not make a full end, and that God knows there are His people in this land, the divine purpose of this particular challenge is to get His people to cry out for the faithful man. Oh, come thou, Messiah. That's the purpose in all of this. Look at Josiah. He brought a reformation, a powerful reformation, and now look at it. He can't save us. Josiah can't save you. He can't save me. Look at this great prophet Jeremiah who is so faithful and preaches the Word of God. And look at the people. Jeremiah can't save you. He can't save me. He can't save anyone. They themselves are sinners and they need a mediator in this revelation, in this particular challenge God is showing to the people. Look for the Messiah! Long for Messiah. Cry out for the Son of David. Yearn for Him. Look for Him. And God is also showing this. Don't simply look for Him. Because if you look for Him in Jerusalem, you will not find Him. Look at the depravity of the land. You will not find Him anywhere. But God gives this challenge so that the people will look up. Look to Me for the Messiah, for I am the only One who can bring Him. He cannot be brought forth out of this unclean nation. I will bring Him forth. The divine purpose in all of this is for the faithful, the godly in the city, to look as they've never looked before for that man who would be the faithful man, their Savior. There is a divine purpose in the reading and preaching of Jeremiah 5 for us this evening. The purpose is, first of all, as already noted, a warning. Of course, a warning to all of us. Should the prophet Jeremiah or any man go up and down your streets and in your broad places and my broad places, may it not be so that you are the unfaithful man or unfaithful woman that he finds." And there's a warning here to anyone who may be stubbornly persisting in an unfaithful life. Judgment is coming. There's a warning here. First of all, the divine purpose tonight. Secondly, the divine purpose is to bring us tonight to heartfelt gratitude to God. God has so preserved us by His marvelous grace that we do not look like Jerusalem did in Jeremiah chapter 5. Dare I say it? That it would be more challenging to find an unfaithful man than a faithful man? We're not talking in the text tonight about a perfect man. There are no perfect men. None. Faithful. faithful, one who strives to do what's right, dare we say tonight that it would be more difficult in these streets and in these broad places right here to find an unfaithful man than it would be to find a faithful man. What a blessing, a tremendous blessing by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, that we live in a community of believers who strive to be faithful. Maybe not everyone head for head, and let that be again the warning. Maybe not everyone head for head, but overall the majority Striving to be faithful. Is that not a profound blessing of God? And we look at ourselves tonight as we are by the grace of God alone, and then look at Jerusalem in Jeremiah chapter 5, and how can our hearts not be filled with profound gratitude to God that He's given us this community of streets and broad places where we, who profess to be Christians, do by His grace strive to be faithful. We're not perfect. And that's part of the faithfulness that we're quick to admit we're not perfect and we do sin, but we strive to be faithful to God. What a contrast to Jerusalem. That we live now in this place by the grace of God ought to fill us with such gratitude tonight to God. In the third place, the divine purpose in the reading and preaching of this text tonight is to make us so humble. Because the Bible says in more than one place, Psalm 14 verse 3 is an example, there is none that doeth good, no, not one, and that is absolute. There is not one by nature who is faithful and does good, not one. And therefore, the only explanation for why we may be faithful tonight, and tomorrow, and in this week, as we have been in the past, faithful in our everyday life, not perfect but faithful, Striving to be faithful. The only explanation for that cannot be found in us by nature. We are totally depraved. But it can be only found in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And therefore, there may be no pride and no arrogance, but all humility. The Spirit is the only explanation. Because the Bible says, by nature, we are all depraved. and can do no good. And fourthly, and finally this evening, the divine purpose in this text is to make us love God more and more and more. To love God. Because God, as God alone can do, met the ultimate and the impossible challenge which no one could ever do. He brought forth that one man who was very man and very God and perfectly righteous. That one in whom we have the forgiveness for all of our unfaithfulness and by whose spirit we are motivated to live a faithful life. And by whose power we do live a faithful life. If there is an impossible challenge, it is the challenge of bringing forth that One whom Jerusalem so desperately needed and who we need. And God brought forth His Son for us so that we can live faithfully. And that tonight, in light of all of this, sad history. That tonight ought to make us love God more and more and more. We have that Christ and He is the explanation for our faithfulness. Oh God, by Him make us more and more faithful. Amen. Heavenly Father, All Scripture is given by inspiration and is profitable for preaching. We pray that this sad and troubling history may nevertheless be profitable to us, not only in instruction, but might out of the darkness shine forth again and again the marvelous light of Jesus Christ, so that in the preaching of all of the scriptures, we are given hope and confidence and built up in our love for Thee and Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior. In His name we pray, Amen.