Slight correction, we are not preaching nine chapters of Jeremiah. To your great relief, I am sure, we will do a review of nine chapters of Jeremiah and then we'll try to preach a couple of verses near the end of chapter nine by way of application with regard to the previous nine chapters. So that's my agenda this morning. The message this morning, and I invite you to turn to Jeremiah and kind of put your finger in Jeremiah 1, and I'll kind of be doing a little running commentary in those first few chapters after a bit. Just be ready with that. It might be helpful to follow along with me and see why I picked the text that I did in terms of their importance. The message this morning is entitled, Portrait of a Godless Culture. And I've subtitled it, An Appeal to Repent of Sinful Boasting. And I think that's really what Jeremiah is doing. He's appealing to a dark culture, a lost culture, a culture that's given over to its own inherently corrupt lifestyles. And he's warning this culture. He's God's agent. God's really the one warning. God's picked Jeremiah to be his mouthpiece. And he's warning this culture that unless you change your ways, terrible things are going to happen to you. Terrible things are in store. There's a judge that's coming from the north. And this judge from the north is called by a variety of names. We'll look at a few of these in a few moments. It is Babylon. God's preparing Babylon to come in and basically wipe out Judah for their covenant unfaithfulness in the face of God's covenant faithfulness. And so that's what's going on in the big picture. Hold on to that. I think it all makes sense as you go through it. Again, the theme I think is boasting near the end of chapter 9. That's the warning God gives to these people. Don't boast in the things that you're all about, the things that you do. Boast in Me and what I've done for you and will do for you. And we've all been subjected to boasting. I know. Boasting can really be humorous. We'll start with some humor this morning. There's a sign in front of an Atlanta restaurant featuring fried chicken that reads, if the colonel had had our chicken recipe, he'd be a general. There's another story told. Two fellows were vying with each other in telling the wonderful things they had seen. And one of them said that in a certain land he had seen a cabbage that was so large that 1,500 men on horseback had gathered under it. The other said, well, I saw in a land a cauldron that was being built by 100 workmen, and it was so large they couldn't hear one another. So far were they from one another while they were building it. So the first fellow asked, well, what on earth did they want to do with such a large cauldron? And he replied, cook the cabbage. I think the cauldron won up the cabbage. Boasting in that shape is humorous, it's joking, it's okay. There's nothing inherently wrong or sinful within. That kind of boasting is common to our culture, but there's a sinful boasting that's also common to our culture that we need to be careful of. We know it when we see it and hear it. And it can be very annoying and very difficult to endure. And all of us have at times had to put up with the lying lips, the boastful wind of the braggart. It's hard to endure. It really is. I want to go the other direction when I see someone talking much about himself. It's tough. Think though, how often... And for how long the Lord himself patiently endures the boasting of entire cultures. Entire cultures that he endures and puts up with. But Jeremiah is going to tell us this morning, he won't do this forever. There is a day of reckoning that's coming. And while we know that boasting can be annoying to us personally, from the Lord's perspective it's reprehensible. And he will judge it. It's unseemly and inappropriate. And we all know, as we look at ourselves, each and every one of us, at times, at least in the private recesses of our hearts, are guilty of this sin of boasting. I want to define this term for you in my ancient Oxford dictionary. It's described as proud, or kind of an archaic term, vainglorious speech. I like the definition of being glorious. It really kind of flushes out what we're talking about this morning. Catch this. It's defined as inordinately boastful or proud of one's own abilities, actions, or qualities. Excessively and ostentatiously, big words I know. Excessively and ostentatiously vain. This is someone who is full of himself, if you want to kind of bring it down a little bit. Really full of themselves, okay? Super full of themselves. A more theological definition might look something like this. This is my own gloss. except as you think it's worthy of acceptance or not. Boasting is the practice of glorying in oneself instead of the One, the One to whom all glory is due. That's how I like to define boasting. how often we ourselves are somewhat too proud of our own efforts and abilities and actions and qualities. We sometimes take inordinate pleasure in the works of our hands and the fruits of our labors. And not that it's wrong to take pleasure in the works of your hands and the fruits of your labors, but sometimes we fail to give proper credit to the one who has strengthened our hands and gave them ability and gave our mind sharpness and ability to go out in the world and make a living and do the things that we do. We're tempted, I think, as well at times to take some sort of personal pleasure, even in the security of our salvation, rather than giving Him glory for calling us to Himself and keeping us, keeping us secured and comfortable in His grip. It's not our grip that keeps us, it's His grip that keeps us. And so, we just watch for these things a little bit. He's faithful and He preserves us. We tend to be faithless and fickle. We need to use our gifts to display God's glory, not our own. And we all have different jobs to do, Ephesians 4 says. We're all called to work together in kind of a synergistic relationship where God takes everything He gave each and every one, He blends it all together, and He has made much of as a result. So you've all got a job to do. When you were interviewed as members here, we asked you as elders, what are your gifts? And if you didn't know, we'd ask you. We'd tell you, we'll help you find them. Step up. Let's do this together. Let's be a blessing one to another and give God glory. Make much of Him. It's not my intention to write a long list this morning of our temptations to be boastful, but we could write a long list, I think, a very long list. We need to make much of God. Resist those temptations with great care and as God will reveal to you areas that you would need to repent of in terms of your inordinately high opinion of yourself, asking for grace to repent of those things. and go there no more." The Scripture does not support the mindset of the braggart. The Scripture is very clear that there will be consequences for such mindsets. In Revelation 18, there's a little description of coming judgment. And really, it's a judgment that's related to the fruit of improper glorying, boastful conduct. And the party guilty of that sort of behavior is Babylon. And in that context, it's a fallen world system that's been shaking its fist at God, full of itself, ignoring God and its conduct and its priorities and its living. And it was almost at an unimaginable level of this sort of behavior. And the scripture says in verse 7 of chapter 18 of Revelation, it says, to the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree, give her torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning. And the text says, for this reason, in one day, her plagues will come. pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire, for the Lord God who judges her is strong." That's an unimaginable level of strength. Mighty, wonderful Babylon is a pipsqueak before a strong God, and we are pipsqueaks before Him too. I'm reminded of the words of one of her great rulers, The seasons previous to that account, King Nebuchadnezzar, remember what he said in Daniel 4? Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty? We should be literally shaking in our boots when we hear someone speak like that before the King of Heaven. King Neb did more than shake in his boots. as a consequence of his boasting, as you recall, God turned him into a human lawnmower with a seven-year warranty. And he had some fun cropping the grass with his mouth seven long years because of his boasting. Boasting is the theme of our morning. Now, boasting is not always strictly defined and confined to the loud speech of the blowhard. It includes as well the arrogant, prideful, sin-steeped behavior of men who live in open defiance of God's commandments. In other words, boasting is not always a verbal display. It can be a lifestyle that's characterized by choices and patterns which violate God's clear teaching. I'm making it broader because I think it needs to be made broader. God is watching what happens in this world. And everything that happens in this world that's not in keeping with what He's commanded is perceived from His perspective as boastful living. And there's judgment. associated with that. Jeremiah is going to give us a powerful picture of boastful living this morning. I'm really hopeful, really, really hopeful, as my grandson is excused to probably be dealt with, that the result of our time together will be an increased humility and an increased sensitivity to areas that we are tempted to become boastful. and that God would be pleased through the work of the Spirit to put that on our radar, and that we would resist such temptations and be made more humble, to be made more like Christ. And some other things as well, not just a personal blessing that I'm hopeful for, but that God would just have mercy on a boastful culture. Mark, you made comment about the Olympics. I mean, I can't think of a much better example. Man is lauded in the Olympics, and it's not all bad. It's okay. I enjoy some of this stuff, too, to watch. But I love it if there's a Christian athlete competitor who, at the end of his routine, he doesn't puff his chest out and look for everybody's accolade and applause, but he points to the King of Heaven and says, All glory to God for the strength and the discipline and the time and the resources He gave me to do this. giving glory to the one who made him. You've got to be balanced in these things. I'm not calling you to be an ascetic and not to enjoy these things. They're to be enjoyed, but hopefully within a proper context. I hope. I hope. Ask God for grace. I've asked Him for grace this week as we together consider the sad history of the people of Judah and Israel, and that sad history is given to us by Jeremiah, who is known as the weeping prophet. There's a reason why he was called that, because he saw so much evil and so much boasting. He had God's ear, rather God had his ear, and he knew what was coming. Judgment. He was warning people. So I want to pray one more time as we dive into the text. Would you bow with me? Father, help us this morning. Some of us are pretty confident and secure in our abilities. Lord, it might be good for us to be shaken a little bit. We might be equipped in better ways to please You as a result of that shaking. Pray that You'd refine us this morning, that You would do good in our souls. Cause us to really seriously, soberly reflect on how we conduct ourselves in this culture. Are we making much of You or are we making too much of ourselves? Help us, Lord, in this. This is tough work for some of us. And I pray that you would overcome our resistance, and again, do good in our souls, and we'll thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Well, the boasting of men is usually inaccurate. Remember what they said about the Titanic? There was a deckhand whose reporter said, God Himself could not sink this ship. And it went down. quickly. When I was a United mechanic, a new hire, 26 years ago, we were walking out on the ramp and we had buildings there at the maintenance space which were huge. And you could pull in a couple of 747s and shut the doors and we'd be able to do our maintenance and work on the aircraft. And there was a lead mechanic that I was hanging out with and he was kind of showing me some things. And we're underneath the 747 and the landing gear cylinders and these things are just Big, big. And he looks at me, and I'm, I don't know, 24, 25 years old, and he'd been there 20, 30 years. And he said, see those landing gear, kid? I said, yeah, I see them. He says, see that jet? I said, yeah, I see it. You can't miss it. You know, it swallowed me up here underneath the sink. He says, it doesn't really fly. He says, that landing gear there pushes the earth away. You know, and it's kind of a funny joke, but we're tempted to think things like that, and we don't really see ourselves as small as we really are. We had an opportunity as elders, some of us, and some of you as couples, going on a cruise about a month ago, and the ship is just humongous. It's just gigantic. And when you're on it, you're just like, wow, it's a floating city. And yet, when you're up on the deck at nighttime doing your walk, you're trying to burn off some of the nice dinner that you had, and you look out there at this vast expanse, you realize you're most insignificant. I think we need to cultivate this sort of mindset. We're very small. Who's been to Palomar Observatory and seen the exhibits there? That is one of the most profoundly humbling displays I have ever seen. I feel just so teensy tiny when I go up there. Our great, big, beautiful world is just the littlest of specks in the great cosmos that God has created. We need to cultivate such thoughts. Boasting is inaccurate. Boasting, unfortunately, is natural to fallen man. We boast. One man has written, few men need voice lessons to sing their own praise. And another said, and the man who does so never gets the right pitch. It's just true. Boasting left unchecked can bring on the judgment of the Lord. It can kill the soul. It really can. So, in morning's text, I want to read two verses, not nine chapters, I promise. We'll skim nine chapters. Turn, if you would, to Jeremiah 9. I want to read two verses, and then we're going to do a review of everything leading up to that point. Jeremiah 9, verse 23 and 24, Thus says the Lord... When the Lord says something, his people's ears should begin to tingle and quiver and orient to Him. Thus says the Lord, Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. For I delight in these things, declares the Lord." John Calvin has written of these verses. He says, this is a remarkable passage. And often found in the mouth of men is other notable sentences which are known as proverbial sayings. But yet, few rightly consider how these words are connected with the previous context. So I want to bring a corrective to understanding those connectives this morning. I want you to see the connection. And the connection is very clearly judgment. It's divine judgment. It's judgment that's coming from none other than the Most High, God Himself. You understand that all scriptures come in the middle of a context. It's very important for us to understand that context. Otherwise, as the expression goes, if we take a scripture out of context, we can make it walk on all fours. We can make it any kind of creature we want it to be. to support any sort of an agenda. We need to be very careful to understand the milieu that it's given in. What's previous to it? What's coming after it? What is its significance in that flow of the narrative or the teaching? And I want to give us some instruction there this morning. We'll see chapter after chapter after chapter, the problems are revealed related to this culture of Judah. And there are threatenings. Again and again and again, the word of the prophet comes, and here's this information given that people thumb their nose, and then years pass, and the word of the prophet comes, and the same information given again, people flip their nose at it. And it's ignored consistently, all the way up to our text. So let's do our review. If you're in chapter 1, try to keep up. I'm going to move right along here, 9 chapters. Chapter 1, Jeremiah is called to be God's prophet. This is during the reign of Judah's last good king, King Josiah, who served from 640 to 609 BC. Following Josiah's death, Judah's slide and spiritual decay accelerated and culminated with her exile about 20 years later. Again, at the hand of the Babylonians. Now, Jeremiah was the Lord's gift to beggars people, God's people, to come to repentance. And He's going to call them to turn around or literally repent over a hundred times in this book of Jeremiah. So this isn't just a one-shot wonder from the Lord. He just keeps giving these people grace and patience and kindness again and again and again. And again and again and again. They flip their nose at God's kindness to them. Verse 11 of chapter 1 contains Jeremiah's response to God's question of, what do you see? It's the beginning of the prophetic revelation. Jeremiah answers, I see an almond branch. Now an almond tree is particularly significant because the almond is the first tree to bud out in the springtime. And so when you see the almond tree budding out, it's the early bird of the trees, the fruit bearing trees. You know spring is right around the corner. And the significance of this should be very clear to us. God has made promises and threatenings with regard to their behavior, the behavior of Judah. And His Word has given indication of what will happen. And as surely as geometry reveals the coming of the spring, His Word will come to pass. And it will bear its fruit, either for good or for bad. It's coming. It's like a surety verse saying, God has spoken. It will indeed be. Pay attention. Please don't flip your nose. Please don't ignore. It's the essence of what Jeremiah is saying. There's a boiling pot from the north. Verse 13, that sounds a little troubling. And that's representing the coming conqueror, the judgment means of the Lord, Babylon. The boiling pot from the north. And he warns, Jeremiah does, Babylon will soon invade the cities of Judah. And in verse 16, because of her evil in forsaking me, which included offerings to other gods and for the worship of the works of their own hands. Chapter 2, the Lord begins by asking a question. It's a rhetorical question. It answers itself. What injustice did your fathers find in me, that they went far from me and walked after emptiness and became empty? Verse 5. Now, what did I do that I deserve this sort of insolent, arrogant, prideful, boastful, sinful behavior in response to all the goodness I've done for this people? And he reminds him of the blessings he gave. He says, verse 7, I brought you into the fruitful land to eat its fruit and its good things. And the people showed their lack of appreciation for this by defiling the land, Jeremiah says. The priests, the shepherds, the prophets, all those who were there to be spiritual good and resources to the people, they were faithless. And the text says they were ignorant of God's law, and because they were ignorant of God's law, they were then unqualified to teach God's people. So the people that you would look to for instruction, they couldn't give any because they didn't know it. Desperate days. Many were worshiping Baal, the Canaanite storm god. He was believed to have powers over fertility. They're practicing sexual deviancy at pagan shrines. Great masses of people involved in unspeakable evil. Showing themselves guilty of what verse 11 says, having changed their glory for that which does not profit. That's quite understated, isn't it? just like today. And I think words like that should really pierce our souls. This is our culture being described, even though it was some, what, maybe 3,000 years ago, approximately. They had forsaken, verse 13 says, the living God. He was described as the fountain of living waters. What a wonderful description of God. The fountain of living Water sounds like something Jesus would have to say, huh? Living waters. And they had hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. And God called the heavens as a witness to these things. And the heavens themselves are called to be appalled at the behavior that they have to witness day in, day out. from those who have been consistently thumbing their nose at a good God. And truly, it's a sad state of affairs. Verse 20, the people are reminded through Jeremiah that long ago, I broke your yoke and you burst your bonds, but you said, I will not serve. all the miracles that He had taken them through, the deliverance from Egypt, the parting of the sea, the provision of quail, the provision of manna, all of these things, water coming from the rock, all of these wonderful displays of God's glory. People said, I will not serve. I will not bow. I don't need you, God. Again, just like today. And their response, For I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go. Verse 25, faithless, absolutely faithless. Chapter 3, God's covenantal lawsuit against His people continues. He says in verse 2, you have polluted the land with your vile harlotry. Literal gloss would be whoredom. You polluted the land. Worse yet, verse 3 says, you refuse to be ashamed. They're proud of their sin. Israel went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the harlot." Verse 6. Yet, despite their great evils, God pleads with them to repent. And please, let these words just bless your soul. If you're playing with some sin, and you know it's wrong, and you know you need to do business with it, please listen to these couple of verses. They are so wonderful. They're tonic for us. It's the way of escape. It's like an Old Testament, 1 Corinthians 10.13, No temptation, exegesis is common to man. We've got a long way out so you can endure it. It's like that, okay? Old Testament. Here's what God says to these faithless, sinning people. Return, faithless evil. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful. I will not be angry forever. What do you have to do? Well, God tells you. Only acknowledge your guilt. Acknowledge that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners. Acknowledge that you have not obeyed my voice. Verses 12 and 13. Just agree with me that you've done wrong and repent. And I'll be merciful. And I'll wrap my arms around you. And I'll love on you like you've never been loved on before. I'll do this for you. He's saying, take me at my word. It sounds like gospel to me, folks. Gospel in the Old Testament. It sounds like freedom. It sounds like the language of restoration. And in case he didn't get it the first time, the Lord repeats this kind offer of forgiveness. He says, return, O faithless sons. I will heal your faithlessness. He shows them the vanity and the weakness and the inappropriateness of sin. He says, truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly only in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. That's where it can be found. That's where joy can be found. That's where restoration and healing is. It's in the Lord and in Him alone. This is the kind invitation of a forgiving Heavenly Father. And those of you who may be tempted to labor under, I'm going to call it what it is, the delusion that the God of the Old Testament is always this unkind, crushing tyrant who has no love, that's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous. There's no substance to that sort of thing. Jesus talks more about hell in the New Testament than He does heaven. A hundred times in Jeremiah, God is begging His people, come back to Me. I'll take you. I'll receive you to Myself. Repent of your sin. I will take you. Chapter 4, same theme and warning. Verse 4, circumcise yourselves to the Lord. Remove the foreskin of your hearts. lest my wrath go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it because of the evil of your deeds." Folks, there is wrath, but it's wrath in response to sin. And God being holy, He's got to punish it. Here's the warning. Choose me and live, essentially. He's reminding that a failure to do this will result in judgment. Verse 7, here's the judgment. A lion... has gone up from his sticket." You know, somebody told me that, and I lived out in the wilderness, you know, and I didn't have these nice walls around us, and somebody said, hey, guess what? A lion has gone out of his sticket. There's a lion cruising around here. And this lion is the means of judgment of a holy God upon a sinful people, and guess what? You're one of them. So this lion's looking for you. prowling around, he's sniffing. We took the kids to the San Francisco Zoo years ago at feeding time. We were right outside the cage. There's the meat in the back and the attendants are dealing with it and the lions know the meat's coming. And folks, when that lion roars, it distorts your hearing. I'll never forget it. And just the roar itself scared the you-know-what out of me. It was terrifying. I couldn't imagine if the bars had been gone and they let that lion out and he came after me. the roar and the effect. Jeremiah is saying, look guys, a lion has gone out from his thicket. A destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone out from his place to make your land a waste. It should give us chills. And he pleads again, O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you? And He speaks to their guilt and responsibility. He says, "...your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom and it is bitter." Verse 18. Then He speaks to their foolishness. He says, "...they are stupid children. They have no understanding. They are wise in doing evil, but how to do good they know not." Verse 22. Chapter 5, some discussion. We realize from reading this text that God's discipline has not led to their repentance, but rather to their increased hard-heartedness. Just like areas where the gospel has gone out again and again and again, people thumb their nose. They become like these people. They have made their faces harder than rock. They have refused to repent. Verse 3, they will not. In God's reply, in the face of such behavior is terrifying. A lion from the forest shall strike them down. A wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities. Everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces because their transgressions are many and their apostasies are great." Verse 6. And then he gives more reasons for the necessity of this judgment. He writes, "...your children have forsaken Me. and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of harlots. They were well fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife. Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord. Shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?" God is saying essentially, I must judge them for the evil. They are refusing to come to Me. They won't have Me. I've got to deal with this. It's terrifying. And again, the modern day parallels are just sobering. Absolutely sobering. Our own culture, as well as Jeremiah's, would commonly say of threatenings like this of the Lord, these words, and this is a quote from verses 12 and 13. Here's their response to all these threatenings. He will do nothing. No disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. The prophets will become wind. The Word is not in them. They ignore it. They ignore it all. But they're not ignoring the lies spreading pseudo-prophets among them. Jeremiah talks about them too. He says, an appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule at their direction. My people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes? We know what they did, weeping and wailing, lots of it, when Babylon's strong hand came down and crushed them. And crushed them, he did. Chapter 6 through the first half of chapter 9 are an ongoing repetition of the themes that I've already highlighted for you this morning. There's no need to do them all. I recommend, though, that you read them. There are some powerful messages. But I think for this morning you have the gist. So what exactly did Jeremiah say the Lord's people were boasting in? Remember our definition of boasting. Inordinately boastful, proud of one's own abilities, actions, or qualities. Remember excessively or ostentatiously vain. Here's mine again, aggressively, confidently pursuing the following type of lifestyle. And here's what they were all about. This is where the Lord put the finger of judgment on them and what they were doing. They were worshipping idols. They were sacrificing their children. They were prostituting themselves. They were practicing adultery and fornication. They were godless with regard to their affections. They were treacherous in their business dealings. They were preachers of heresy and false prosperity. They were violent, greedy, hypocritical, murderous, and slanderous. Again, just like many in our own day. Just like our day. And like the people of our own day, they did this openly and without shame. And they did so in the company of family and friends. It was their culture. And these practices were widespread. They were the norm. They were normative. They were accepted. They were done proudly. Jeremiah says in another text, they did so in a manner that indicated the truth of what He had described to them as forgotten how to blush. They didn't know how to blush anymore. They were fine with this stuff, no problem. What's good for me is good for me, and what's good for you is good for you, and hey, whatever, go for it, short life, live it to the full. They were arrogant without regard of coming judgment or punishment. Scary place to be. And I would suggest for a large number of them, These evils were practiced utterly boastfully from the perspective that the commandments of God were irrelevant and unworthy of any serious consideration. And that's how all of us were before the cross, each and every one of us. So if you're on a pedestal, let me push you off gently as I step off with you, okay? Because we were all there, each and every one. And again, it was just like today. The Lord reveals in chapter 9 that the fruit of that kind of boastful living is this, the land is ruined and laid waste, verse 12. Jeremiah says effectively, brace yourself for some serious mourning. And he says, you're going to have to call in the professional mourners to make it adequate because you're about to cry as you have never cried before. You're going to need help to cry properly as you ought to. Because death is coming. And death's work is described. It's come up into our windows. It has entered our palaces, cutting off the children from the streets and the young man from the squares. The population is about to be laid waste. And it's described in this way, verse 22, what's going to happen as a result of this judgment. The dead bodies of men shall fall like dung upon the open field, like sheaves after the reaper, and none shall gather them. There won't even be the dignity of a burial. They're going to lie out there in the open. For the birds of the air, they're going to rot. It's a scene of holocaust. It's horrific. It's desolation. And this is what happens as a result of boastful living. They were boasting in the wrong things and they were judged. And they ignored God's repeated kindness to them. So we should ask, what are we boasting in? What are we proud of? And how seriously have we thought about this? What has captured the affections of our hearts? What things cause us delight? What things cause us disgust? You should do inventory. We should do inventory together. We should do inventory frequently. God states clearly that these following things are not to be boasted in and of. And here's our verse, verse 23, Thus says the Lord, Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches." God's saying, wisdom, might, riches, these are strong temptations to boasting. He says, guard your heart against this. These are difficult temptations to resist. Let's consider wisdom. It's all God's gift. It's from the Lord. All wisdom is from Him. The psalmist says, Psalm 111, verse 1, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 1.7 says the same thing. That's where it begins. Fearing God, seeing God, revering God, trusting God at His Word, bowing before Him, accepting His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you begin to think for the first time and see true reality. Everything begins to make sense when you fear God. That's where it all begins. Calvin writes, it is a vice innate in all mortals to be proud of their own excellency. It's there. We need to be proud and delight in the excellency of God alone. Your high IQ, your common sense, your discernment, whatever levels you have of them, they all come as a result of His grace and goodness to you. And all that you have learned, and more importantly, the little bit you're able to retain, like me, if you're like me, is a result of His gracious enabling. He does this for His own. We should be mindful of Paul's words to the Corinthians. What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? Paul tells the Corinthians, you didn't have anything other than what the Lord gave you. Boast in the Lord. Don't boast in yourself. How about might? For me, it's sad sometimes to go to the gym and watch the regulars that are just absolutely obsessed. with their gym attendance and everything they can accomplish there. You can see them. They're over the edge. There's one thing to go to the gym and take care of yourself. There's another thing to go to the gym and make it the greatest idol in your life and look in the mirror at yourself and say, wow, how awesome I look. They've crossed the line. There's nothing wrong with that sort of thing, but not when both latitudes accompany it. I remember being tempted to be like that. And I'll tell you one thing, cancer is a good corrective for that kind of stuff. It's a real reminder of our frailty. Been there, done that. That helped me. We are but dust, and to the dust we will one day return. Do we recognize this? Do we properly cultivate that kind of a mentality? Do we allow such thoughts to humble us? I hope that we do. How about riches? Puritan Thomas Fuller wrote, riches may leave us while we live. We must leave them when we die. They're not coming with. They stand behind. Whatever we have amassed may quickly leave us. That's the nature of life. And upon our death, all our worldly goods will remain behind. Wise men do not boast in their worldly goods. How foolish! Wise men don't boast in their wisdom. Wise men don't boast in their might. That is the epitome of stupidity. God states that these following things in verse 24 are the things we're to delight in. Here it is, and this will be our application and close for this morning. Let him who boasts boast of this... See, it's okay to boast in something. You can be a braggart. You can be a holy braggart. Let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me. that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things, declares the Lord." Remember, wisdom begins that journey of understanding the Lord. God is saying, boast in me. Boast in my covenant faithfulness. Boast in my great deeds. Boast in my creative wonders. Boast in my rule over heaven and earth and how I sustain it even now. Boast in my sovereignty over eternity. Boast in the great salvation that I offer to fallen men and women. Boast in my perfect judgment and justice. Boast in the matchless, unmerited mercy, favor and grace that I extend to my own. Boast in those things." That's holy boasting. That's okay. We're commanded to do this. It's like Jeremiah saying, join me in being a braggart for the Lord. Let's brag about these good things. There's no end to the things that we could boast in as we consider the Lord and what He has done. So, the bottom line is, confine any boasting that you do heavenly. It's Godward boasting, not self-boasting. You'll keep yourself safe. You'll escape judgment. More specifically, boast in Christ. Philippians 2 gives us some clear teaching. He's worthy of our boasting. God highly exalted Him. Did you catch that? God highly exalted him. I don't think it would be a stretch to actually say God boasts in the Son. He exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee will bow, those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Folks, we need to boast in Christ. See in Christ, the risen Lord, that He is worthy of all of our boasting. He's our best boast. He is the only boast of the Christian. He's our only boast. To know and to understand Him, to boast in Him will pay benefits for all of eternity. Forget your boasting about self, what you've done or would like to do. Boast in the Lord. Do you remember what the Lord told Moses as he passed before him on Sinai? This is powerful. These words in Exodus 34, the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty. Gospel is there. It's there again. He wants to forgive. He will forgive. Trust Him. Boast in Him. What He has done for you. The breath He gives you. The blessings He's granted. All the things that you enjoy in this life. We're finite. We're made of dust. The dust will return. Boasting should be in the Lord. If you don't boast in the Lord, He will not clear you of your guilt. Boast in the Son that He gave you. Trust in the Son that He offers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Accept His righteousness. Ask sorrow for your sin. In this wonderful exchange where Christ Himself will take your sin and give you His righteousness. That's the best deal that has ever occurred. There is nothing more powerful. There is nothing more valuable. Ask God for a soft, tender heart that allows you to stop boasting in yourself and to boast in Him. And run to His Son, and having done so, boast in Him for all eternity. Let's pray. Father, we want to be boasters in You and not boasters in self. And we know, Lord, we can't do that unless You help us. So, Father, again this morning we beg for help. We pray that You would touch us. You remove blindness from our eyes. You would move resistance. You would help us in our weakness with your strength. Father, truly, you are an amazingly kind and good God. Your forbearance is just so appreciated, Lord, by those of us who know you. Thank you for saving us. We pray, Father, even this morning, you do great business in saving others as they see you as you are. In Jesus' name, amen.