Jeremiah chapter 48, we'll be taking our text from tonight, all 47 verses. Man, that's a lot of verses to cover. Pray that we do it right. This will be part number 50 of our Journey Through Jeremiah Bible Study series. Tonight, it's going to be specifically dealing with God's judgment against Moab. Moab and so Jeremiah chapter 48 be reading from let's look at those first two verses and then we'll pray and get right into the study Jeremiah 48, starting with verse one, the Bible says, against Moab, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Woe unto Nebo, for it is spooled. Curatham is confounded and taken. Misgab is confounded and dismayed. There shall be no more praise of Moab. And Heshbon, they have devised evil against it. Come and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O madmen, the sword shall pursue thee. Lord, we thank you for the reading of your word tonight. I'm praying now, God, you help me for just a little bit to be able to preach on this message tonight. God, that you'll be the one that preaches through me. And Lord, just help us as we try to speak with this numb mouth tonight. God, I know you can loosen it up and let us be able to preach the best that we can. Help us, Father. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Well, just like we looked at last week as we started about the judgment of the Gentile nations, we saw Egypt and we looked there in that last chapter. It was against the Philistines, and tonight it's against Moab. Now all these are very important lands and peoples in the Bible, especially in relation to the children of Israel, how they interacted with these folks. This is why God's judging the land of Moab and the people of Moab, the Moabites, because of the way they've interacted with his people and how they have worshipped false gods as well. and not the real God of heaven. But this entire chapter, like I said, is devoted to Moab, the judgment against it. Now, the inhabitants of Moab are the Moabites. Their name comes from their founder, whose name was Moab. The Bible tells us where Moab come from. If you want to look at it with me, look in Genesis chapter 19 and verse 30, and we get a clear picture of how Moab began. And Moab began in a bad way. Genesis chapter 19 verse 30. Now this is after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God had pronounced judgment on that evil place because of their wickedness and rained down fire and brimstone. We know that Lot, just Lot, the Bible called him a just man. Now, we fault him for living there in the group of all those folks, but the Bible says he was a just man. And he also vexed his soul day by day. And so, He had some good, there was some good in Lot. But he has escaped with his two daughters and there in Genesis chapter 19 verse 30 it says, and Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain and his two daughters with him. For he feared to dwell in Zoar and he dwelled in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with their father, and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow that the firstborn said unto the younger, behold, I lay yesternight with my father. Let us make him drink wine this night also and go thou in and lie with him that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him. And he perceived not when she lay down nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son and called his name Moab. The same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare son and called his name Benammi. And the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day." So these Moabites, they originated from this incestuous relationship between a drunken lot and his oldest daughter is the one that Moab came from, the oldest daughter. This relationship between Moab and the children of Israel was sometimes peaceful, but most the time it was not peaceful. They clashed a lot. Moab was the last place, if you recall, when the children of Israel were going over into the Canaan land, the last place they went through was Moab. In fact, that's where Moses died at. He was up there on the mountain and died, and the Lord buried him there in Moab. So there's a lot of history there with these folks. And probably one of the most familiar Moabites that we remember in the Bible would be in the book of Ruth, we find. Ruth, the wife of Malon. And Malon passed away, we remember the Bible tells us. And Ruth has left a widow and she's living with her mother-in-law, Naomi. And she ends up marrying the kinsman-redeemer, Boaz. And her and Boaz, they have a son. Well, that son's name, they named him Obed. And he had a son named Jesse. And of course, Jesse had a son named David. So Ruth was the great-grandmother of King David. But Ruth was a Moabite. They were the cursed people. They were not allowed to be in the camp of the Israelites. And here we see that God in His divine will and His mercy and His grace, He has actually used this disobedience that this family had of moving over to the land of Moabites. He used it for His glory despite that. And we see that David sprang from the bloodline of a Moabite. And so, interesting things there. But by the time we get to the book of Jeremiah, The prophecy that we just read here tonight There's a lot of water under the bridge by now. And just like all the other Gentile nations, God is going to pronounce judgment upon them and destruction because of the way they have treated his people and because of their idol worship. In fact, he mentions their god, Chemosh, a few times here in our text. The Moabites worshiped Chemosh. That was their main god. And of course, also the goddess Ashtar. This awful pagan worship that they were in was a terrible type of worship. They also worshipped a god named Nebo, which we see they have a land there, a city of Nebo, and a mountain as well. Named from that. Well, look at verse 3 of our text. It says the voice crying shall be from Hora name spoiling and great destruction Moab is destroyed her little ones have caused cry to be heard for in the going up of Lueth continual weeping shall go up for in the going down of Hora name the enemies have heard a cry of destruction and This cry of destruction is being heard from one end of the land of Moab all the way to the other end of Moab. I'm talking the entire land of the Moabites God is pronouncing judgment on. Nobody is safe from it. Nobody is going to be spared. God's wrath is coming down on this entire nation of Moab. It's talking about these that are crying out there in the destruction. Moab has encompassed, the whole land's encompassed in this wrath against sin. Verse six says, flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness. For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken. And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priest and his princes together. And the spooler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord has spoken. Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away, for the cities thereof shall be desolate without any to dwell therein. Well, this is a cry for them to go, flee for your lives. It's more of a mocking that he's doing here because they're not going to be able to escape God's wrath and judgment. And so it's more of a mocking, go, flee, run, try to escape from God's wrath. He tells them to be like the heath in the wilderness. The heath was a tree that would withstand the winds of the wilderness. It was always beaten by the winds. The leaves would be gone. It had no fruit on it. And so it was a lone tree out there in the wilderness that was being blasted by the wind. And that's what he's telling them, go out there like the heath out in the wilderness and stand and be blasted by this. He mentions their God Chemosh there. The Moabites and the Ammonites both worshiped Chemosh. The Moabites sometimes are referred actually as the people of Chemosh throughout the Bible. You'll find that they're called Moabites and they're called the worshipers or the people of Chemosh. It says here in our text that we just read, even their god Chemosh, he is not going to be able to help them escape God's wrath. He, too, will be taken into captivity. You know, and Chemosh is a false god anyway. He doesn't even exist except for in the minds of these people. He's not a real god. The only real god is the god of heaven. And so these people are worshipping this as some kind of idea and thought, the same way that folks today worship false gods. They're not real gods. Only the Lord God Jehovah is the real God. And so he mentions their God's not going to be able to help them. He's even going to be taken as prisoner. And he's not going to leave one single city untouched. Look at verse 10. He said, What he's talking about here, he's pronouncing a curse on the Chaldeans if they don't do what he told them to do. See, he's instructed the Chaldeans to go and wipe out these people in Moab. And if they hold back the sword, if they don't do what he said, he said they're going to be cursed. Cursed is he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully. So if they're not doing what he said to do, even those Chaldeans he's sending, they're going to be cursed. especially if they hold back their sword. You see, God is the one who gives life, God sustains life, and it's at God's pleasure, if He wants to terminate a life, it's at His pleasure. Our lives are at God's disposal. We don't hold anything above God. God has us all. We're all, at any moment, God could just think the thought and brush our lives out of our bodies. And so we don't ever need to think that we're anything or anybody. God is above all and he is sovereign and whatever his will is is what he chooses. Verse 11 says, Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he's settled on his lease, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity. Therefore, his taste remained in him, and his sin has not changed. Well, throughout the history of the Moabites, they've never been taken prisoners. Now, they've been fought against, enemies come against them, and they've went in battles and such, but they have never been taken as captives in another land and forced into slavery. They have lived a life of ease in their youth, it says. Moab has been at ease from his youth and settled on his lease. In other words, he's become content in his way of life. The Moabites feel that they're undefeatable, nobody's ever taken them, and so they feel like that they've got everything fine. They're a settled people. And in other words, they become comfortable in their position in the world and they have no fear of anyone. In fact, we're going to look here in a minute and see one of their biggest problems was their pride and not having any fear, especially fear of God. Verse 12, it says, Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send unto him wanderers that shall cause him to wander and shall empty his vessels and break their bottles. Now, there's some things in this that may be a little hard for us to understand because of the differences in their culture and our culture. And a lot of theirs was dealing with the wines and the way they kept the wines and how they treated them and things like that. When he's mentioning all this, there's something behind it. He talks about wanderers. The wanderers are these that God has sent into their land and they have have intermingled with the Moabites and so they're living among them. And what they don't realize, the Moabites don't realize, and it's probably Chaldeans he's speaking of, the Chaldeans are living among them and what they're going to do, they're going to rise up in society there and they're going to be the ones in the law making and everything else. They're going to raise up and become, infiltrate their government and their lands they will overthrow it from the inside and so there's a lot of things there in that that I'm not going to go into great detail tonight about but do a study on that sometimes on what he was talking about there about the the vessels and breaking their bottles and all this there's a this gets into very much detail which I don't really want to get into tonight but look at verse 13 It says, and Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. All right, now, this right here, when the Moabites see that the Lord is gonna destroy them utterly, and there's nothing that they're gonna do, and Chemosh is not doing a thing for them, they're gonna be ashamed of their God, because their God's not done anything for them. But notice that, what he mentioned there. As the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. Now, if you don't go through the Bible and read it and rightly divide the word and truth and figure out what he's talking about right here, you would think, well, that's strange that the Israelites would be ashamed of Bethel because that was, I mean, that was sacred ground. That was a place that, you know, it held a great history for them and great meaning. But what he's referring to is when Israel was divided into two sections, the northern and the southern kingdoms. Now, we all know this after, it happened right there at the end of Solomon's reign. there was a division made. And the king that came on the throne, Rehoboam, Rehoboam became the king of the northern tribes. He was the son of Solomon. And so he became their king, even though Jeroboam was, now I get these names mixed up sometimes, so if you catch me, if I mess up, I'm sorry. But that Rehoboam and Jeroboam, sometimes I get those things, I get them turned around. But anyway, after King Solomon died, Rehoboam became the king of Israel. Now, he became a tyrant of a king. He started making things harder on the people because he was told by his advisors, they said, you need to lighten up more than what your father did. Lighten up on these people or it's gonna cause trouble. And he said, no, I'll make it harder on them. And so he made their burdens harder And so they pretty much overthrew him and they got Jeroboam in his place. And so Jeroboam then becomes the king of the northern tribes and Rehoboam goes down to the southern kingdom. He sets up his rule from Jerusalem. And so he's there in Jerusalem and Rehoboam is up in, I'm getting them confused again, ain't I? I'm sorry. But my mouth's getting un-numb. It's starting to work out. So anyway, so Jeroboam used to work for King Solomon. And he was actually the one that God was gonna place on the throne. And he even sent a prophet there to tell him that all this was gonna happen. And so, Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem, and so did the tribes of Judah, and Benjamin also went with him. And so these two tribes were down in the southern kingdom, and all the rest of them were up in the northern kingdom. Well, it started worrying Jeroboam that the people, when they would go down to the times of worship in the temple, they would want to go to Jerusalem. And if they go to Jerusalem, he was afraid they were going to defect over to the southern kingdom. And so he devised a plan to stop this, he thought. Well, you can read it if you want to write this down or read it with me, 1 Kings 12 and 25. We see what he did to try to keep the people from defecting. First Kings 12 and 25, it says, Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein, and went out from thence, and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah. And they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, Is it too much for you to go up to Jerusalem? Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. And this thing became his sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the son of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, and the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priest of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart, and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel, and he offered upon the altar and burnt incense." So what we have here is he decided he was going to keep his people from leaving and so he would institute this these places of worship, one in Bethel and one in Dan. And he said, it's too hard for you to go all the way to Jerusalem. Let's worship here and you're going to worship these calves. He had calves made. These calves brought you out of Egypt bonded. And so he's directing them to worship these calves in Bethel. Well, we ain't going to read it tonight, but if you look at your next chapter, 1 Kings 13, God sent a prophet to warn Jeroboam of his sinfulness, of what he had done. And God was going to destroy these altars and the golden calf that he'd built there in Bethel. And so the meaning of our text back at Jeremiah, when it says, and the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence, that's what he's referring to. The time that Jeroboam set up the the false uh... uh... the calves there in Bethel and was causing them to worship them and so that's what he's talking about. I know I went a long way to get you to understand that. Look at verse fourteen of our text back in Jeremiah. How say ye, we are mighty and strong men for the war? Moab is spooled and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts. Well, see, they once bragged of their mighty army, their young men, their stamina, their ability to fight. These legions of young men would go into battle and would usually prevail, but the Lord assures him that the mighty and strong men and even their young men, they will all be destroyed and slaughtered." And he also, notice he uses a title here of King of the Lord of Hosts. Listen, he's a greater king than the king of the Moabites. He's a greater king than the king of the Chaldeans. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He's above all. There is no God above the Lord God of heaven. And he says, I am King. It says Seth, the King whose name is the Lord and all capital letters, Jehovah of host. And so he is above all. Verse 16, the calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast. All you that are about him bemoan him, and all you that know his name say, how is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod? Well, now remember, this prophecy of the judgment of the Gentiles began in the fourth year of the reign of Jeholakim. And so though it says the calamity of Moab is near to come, it was actually 23 years later before it happened. And so this prophecy was given to them 23 years before the Lord actually brought it about. And that was after the destruction came five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, after Nebuchadnezzar came in and defeated Jerusalem and took off the captives. Five years later, Moab was destroyed. And so we must remember that God does things in his own time. Now, we think 23 years is a long time. Jessica's just a little over that. She said, well, you're 25 now, aren't you? Did I get that right? OK, she's going to be 25 on February the 23rd. I got that right. OK. And so she's nearly that age, around 23, 24. So that sounds like a long time for us. But for God, it's a blip in time. It's nothing. The Lord is, I mean, He is patient. God, I tell you what, and I'm thankful for that, by the way. If He was not the patient God that He is, if He wasn't all suffering like He is and merciful like He is, friends, we would be so in trouble. But because of God's great mercy and His grace and His long-suffering, and how he puts up with us. Well, we wouldn't do it. We wouldn't put up with somebody 23 years like that. If we knew we were going to destroy him, we'd say, well, you know, we're going to destroy him anyway. Let's go ahead and get it over with. Wipe him out. God gave him 23 more years. And so our timetable and God's timetable are very, very different. He's not in a hurry, and he does everything on his own time. Moab's destruction is going to shock everybody around them. They'll be bewildered. It says there, how is the strong staff broken and the beautiful rod? Everybody that knows the Moabites, they're going to ask that. How did this happen? I mean, they're powerful. They're mighty. They got it all. You mean to tell me that they were easily wiped out this way? And so they're going to lose everything that they have. Verse 18. Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst, for the spooler of Moab shall come upon thee. And he shall destroy thy strongholds, O inhabitant of Aror. Stand by the way, and ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done? Dibbon was a city in Moab known to be well protected. They were very proud of that city. Nobody could get to them. Nobody could defeat them. Well, even they will be brought down by the spooler. The Bible calls him the spooler of Moab. The spooler of Moab, ultimately it's God being the spooler. He's going to use Nebuchadnezzar to do it, but it's God the one that is the spooler of Moab. And the spooler's going to come and he's going to defeat this impenetrable place that they believe they have in Dibon. The next verse is now these names. I will probably mess these up. I've went over them and I've I've tried to pronounce them all but I am such I'm terrible at it So let's look at these verses 20 through 24 is a lot of tough ones and if you can do better I'm gonna urge you to come up here and to explain everybody how these are pronounced and that way We'll all be on equal ground. How about that? Verse 20, Moab is confounded, for it is broken down, howl and cry. Tell you it in Arnon, that Moab is spooled, and judgment has come upon the plain country, upon Holon, and upon Jehaza, and upon Mephoth, and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Bethde, Blathaim, and upon Criathaim, and upon Bethgamal, and upon Bethmion, and upon Kiriath, and upon Basra, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near." Well, maybe I didn't mess it up too bad, but all these places here, these difficult name places for us, because we don't speak this language, they're cities and towns in the lands of Moab. And so the Lord is pronouncing judgment on all of them. He didn't want to leave anybody out. He wants to make sure everybody knows, hey, you're included. Because if the Lord was going to destroy, let's say the Lord said he's going to destroy Tennessee. And he says, I'm going to destroy Tennessee all the way from the east to the west, from the north to the south. And then he starts naming off cities. And we hear, I'm going to get Kingsport. OK. We're OK. I'm going to get Chattanooga. All right. I'm going to get Memphis. That's all right. They deserve it. And we go through it, and the Lord was naming off places, and we're thinking, we're getting through this, we're doing all right, we're the Bible Belt, we're the most Bible-minded city in the U.S., they told us one time. Knoxville, Tennessee is the most Bible-minded city. And so we start feeling pretty good of ourselves, and then he's gonna say, and Knoxville, Tennessee. And that's what he's doing. He's naming off every place so they understand, listen, you're all gonna be underneath this wrath. He's gonna destroy it all. Verse 25, the horn of Moab is cut off and the arm is broken, saith the Lord. Now, these symbols he's using here, the horn of Moab, that's the symbol of power. When you see a horn used, that's a symbol of power. When we see the Antichrist come on the scene, we're gonna see the little horn come up. That means he's got power. We're gonna see other, when the Persians came, and their symbol of the goat, and they came through, they had the horn. It was a horn of power. And so these horns were mentioned like this as power. Well, Moab's power is going to be completely cut off. Their horn is going to be cut off. And their arm is broken. The arm is a symbol of authority. In other words, the arm is the one that encompasses the place, saying, I am in authority here. I rule this land. Well, God says, no, this arm's getting cut off. You're no longer the authority here. I'm the authority here. And so Moab's horn will be cut off, their arm broken, indicating they'll lose everything that they have. Verse 26, make ye him drunken, for he magnified himself against the Lord. Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision. Well, he speaks of making them drunken. He don't mean he's gonna get the wines made by grapes and make them all drink it and they're all gonna be drunk. That's not what he's talking about. I believe you've heard me preach enough and teach on this enough to know this is talking about God's wrath, God's cup of wrath, his fury is what he's speaking of. and he's gonna, his cup of wrath is gonna be given to all of them. They're all gonna have to drink of it. And look why he said that he's doing this. For he magnified himself against the Lord. Moab stood up and said, we're bigger than the Lord God Jehovah. We're bigger than the God of the children of Israel. We're greater than him. And he said, okay, you magnified yourself against the Lord God Jehovah. Listen, I'm gonna make you drunk with the wrath of my fury, with the cup of my fury. You're gonna drink of it. And then he says, they shall wallow in his vomit, and he shall be in derision, just like a drunk man. These are symbols, of course. And they're going to be so much in God's wrath and fear, they're going to be like a drunk wallowing around in his own vomit. The Bible says vomit. We all say puke or throw up, and everybody's doing like this, aren't you? But the Lord says what he's gonna do his wrath is they're gonna be like a drunk man walling around like this and derision derision is complete confusion derision is a Kind of almost a violent confusion that they're in verse 27 Says for was not Israel a derision unto thee was he found among thieves for since thou spakest of him thou skip us for joy and Well, when those northern kingdoms of Israel was cut off into captivity first, when they were taken by the Assyrians, what did the Moabites do? They liked it. They laughed, they skipped, they were for joy. And then when the southern kingdom got taken off into captivity by the Chaldeans, what did they do? They laughed and they skipped with joy. They loved it because God's people were being taken. They mocked, they ridiculed, they laughed. They treated them as if they were thieves and robbers being taken off into prison is what they did. That's why he's saying it. Was not Israel a derision unto thee? Was he found among thieves? Was he to be treated like a common criminal? Did Israel ever do anything against you to cause them to do this, to make you skip for joy? Have they done anything like that to you? And because you've done this, then this rascal happened. Well, nothing's changed in all these years. Even since then, the countries and people all around Israel still rejoice in any bad thing that happens to them. They love it when something happens with Israel. They love it. Israel is the most hated nation in this world. Most hated. Very small, very small, but they are very powerful. And they are very protected by God. You better believe that tonight. They are constantly shooting down missiles and rockets and mortars. I mean, they're constantly, their enemies all around them are shooting things toward them. And they're digging underground in caves and trying to come up under the city. They're doing everything they can to try to destroy Israel. Israel is 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in protection mode. They've got, of course, they've got that Iron Dome, that first layer of protection against those short-range missiles and those mortars that are coming across there. And that Iron Dome protects them over there. And then up above that, the second layer, they've got Arrow 2 and Arrow 3. These are missile defense systems that can shoot down these longer-range rockets and missiles that are coming toward Israel. But I don't know if you saw this, back in April, they introduced their latest weapon, David's Sling. David's Sling, back in April, they introduced it. It was a joint effort, by the way, with the United States. Raytheon, actually here in the United States, teamed up with them in Israel and they created David's Sling. And David's Sling is equipped with a two-stage hit-to-kill stunner missiles. And so it completely obliterates anything that is coming toward Israel. Completely. Just by sheer force of it. The sheer force of this weapon. And it's like nothing else in the world. And they have now got that thing out there. So they've got these three different layers of protection. And they've got much, much more than this. Israel is extremely advanced in weapon technology. Above all the other nations. They're one of the biggest importers and exporters as well of weapons. And they have technology centers over there. I mean, the most brilliant mines you could ever find are in Israel. Big companies are stationed over there, huge companies over there, and they're constantly working on technology. They have things in their homes over there that we don't have here. And so I'm talking, of course, the poorest of the poor are not going to have a lot of the advanced things, but Israel is very, very advanced. And not only that, but they have the Lord God Jehovah watching over them. Now they might have layer one, two and three, but they've got the number one layer watching over them. And so God is watching over Israel. And you better believe the Palestinians, the Iranians, the Hamas, all those, everybody around them would skip for joy because of anything that would happen to Israel. That's what the Moabites did, and listen, the Moabites paid dearly for it. Verse 28, O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell on the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth. The only chance that they would even have to try to escape would be to flee to the mountains and try to bury themselves in the clefts of the rocks. And that's pretty much what he's saying. And I believe this to be another kind of a mocking at them. They're not going to escape God's judgment and wrath. Their fortified cities are not going to hold him. It says, leave the cities and dwell in the rock. In other words, you cities that you build up, you think you're protected in, leave those and go hide yourselves in rocks just like the birds do. Verse 29, we have heard the pride of Moab. He's exceeding proud. His loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart. I know his wrath, saith the Lord, but it shall not be so. His lie shall not so affect it. Moab's pride was known world over. Look at all those adjectives he used there to describe the same thing, by the way. All these things describe basically the same. Pride, proud, loftiness, arrogancy, pride, haughtiness. All of these things are pointing toward them exalting themselves, lifting themselves up, trying to be higher and greater than God. And God says there, we've heard of the pride of Moab. He's exceeding proud. You look around today at the United States and let me tell you what, we are proud, boastful, prideful people. I mean, to a sickening degree. Until we get ourselves humble and fall on our knees and repent of our sins, friends, we're not going to find God's blessings. Listen, God blessed this country for so long and we were founded on godly values and Christian principles, but I want you to know that I feel God's hand lifting off of this country because people have turned their backs on God. Now, we've got some good people here. We got good people right here in this church. We got good people in this community. We got good people in this land. But I want you to know the overwhelming majority of people today are in defiance of God. They're unrepentant sinners. They're thumbing their nose in God's face. They're lifting themselves up as haughty, high, proud, boastful, arrogant, just like these people right here. And listen, just like God poured His wrath out and His judgment on these Gentile nations, we're Gentile nation friends. God will pour his wrath out upon this place, and you better believe it. Well, verse 31, I'm going to read through several of these quickly. Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab. Mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kithras. O vine of Sidma, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer. Thy plants are gone over the sea. They reach even to the sea of Jazer. Spooler is fallen upon the summer fruits and upon my vintage and joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field and from the land of Moab and I've caused wine to fell from the wine presses none shall tread with shouting their shouting shall be no shouting from the cry of Heshbon even unto Elia and and even unto Jahaz, and have they uttered their voice from Zoar, even unto Horonam, as an heifer of three years old, for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate. Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the Lord, him that offereth in high places, and him that burneth incense to his gods. Therefore, mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and my heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Cheres, because the riches that he has gotten are perished." Now, This language that's being used here in Jeremiah is the same exact language used over in Isaiah. If you want to write these notes down, Isaiah 16, 6 through 13, it's almost identical to what we just read. It's the prophet speaking this. This is the prophet's voice. And we know Jeremiah had a heart for people. He was the weeping prophet. And here it appears that Jeremiah himself, even though these people deserve this punishment, they deserve this wrath, Jeremiah still, he says, I will cry out for all Moab, my heart shall mourn for the men of Kyrie. Listen, these people are going to be utterly destroyed off the face of the earth. And so this kind of a weeping for them. Listen, we have to have a love for people. Even we don't like what the Bible says, do we, about loving our enemies? We don't like that part, do we? We like that part where God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, but when it comes to love thy enemies, yeah, we have a tough time with that, but we are to love them. Listen, I don't want to see people be destroyed and go to hell, but I know that it happens. Well, so most of those verses we just read is a direct quote nearly from Isaiah 16. And look at verse 37, for every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped, upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth. Now these of course are signs of great mourning. We know that the Israelites also themselves, they would shave their head, clip their beards, and be in sackcloth and ashes. That was a symbol of mourning. However, one thing that these Gentiles would do, these pagans would do, would cut themselves on their hands and other places on their body. Now this was forbidden by God for the Israelites. Back in Deuteronomy, the law plainly says you're not to make cuttings on yourself. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 14 and 1, you are the children of the Lord your God, ye shall not cut yourselves. nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord has chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself above all the nations that are upon the earth." So the children of Israel were forbidden to cut themselves like that. However, these pagans, that's what they did. In times of stress and mourning, things happened in their lives, they would start cutting themselves. And we have a lot of cutting going on today. There's a lot of young people today that are cutting themselves. And they claim that it makes them feel like they're alive. And I believe most of them are just trying to get attention. I really do. I think they feel lonely. They feel isolated. And that's one of their ways of maybe escape that they're trying to do. Nevertheless, the Bible here is very plain for the children of Israel. They were not to cut themselves, but the Moabites would. We'll finish up verses 38 through 47. We'll read all those together. There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof, for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the Lord. They shall howl, saying, how is it broken down? How hath Moab turned the back with shame? So shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him. For thus saith the Lord, behold, he shall fly as an eagle and shall spread his wings over Moab. Kiriath is taken, and the strongholds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against the Lord." Do you see that? That's one of the very, very most reasons there, because they magnified themselves against the Lord. Fear in the pit and the snare shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord. He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. They fled, stood under the shadow of Heshbon, because of the force. But a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sion, and shall devour the corners of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. Woe be unto thee, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perisheth, for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives. Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord. Thus far is the judgment of Moab." And so we see in these last verses all the things. This is just more God solidifying. I'm going to destroy. I'm going to destroy utterly. I'm going to cause this to happen. All people, it don't matter who they are, you try to escape, you're going to get caught. You escape the snare, you're going to pit. You get out of the pit, you're going to be in the snare. And God says he did this because Moab magnified himself against the Lord. And so we need to be very careful today when we think that we're something or somebody. And let me tell you what, the Lord is still King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And I'm glad of that today. All right. Well, my mouth's almost completely unnumb. So now we're going to do chapter 49. I'm just kidding. Let's go have altar prayer now. We've got a lot of folks that need prayer.