Let's turn together in God's Word tonight to Jeremiah 50. And as we've already read the first 28 verses of this chapter, we're gonna look specifically at verses 29 through 46. So we'll continue in the reading that Jonathan already began for us. Jeremiah 50, we'll begin at verse 29, where the chapter continues. Summon archers against Babylon. all those who bend the bow, and camp around her, let no one escape, repay her according to her deeds, do to her according to all that she has done. For she has proudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. Therefore, her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the Lord. Behold, I am against you, O proud one, declares the Lord God of hosts, for your day has come, the time when I will punish you. The proud shall stumble and fall, with none to raise him up, and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all that is around him. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast, they refuse to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong. The Lord of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon. A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her officials and her wise men. A sword against the diviners, that they may become fools. A sword against her warriors, that they may be destroyed. a sword against her horses and against her chariots and against all the foreign troops in her midst that they may become women, a sword against all her treasures that they may be plundered, a drought against her waters that they may be dried up, for it is a land of images and they are mad over idols. Therefore, wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people nor be inhabited for all generations, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord. So no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her. Behold, a people comes from the north, a mighty nation, and many kings are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth. They lay hold of bow and spear. They are cruel and have no mercy. The sound of them is the roaring of the sea. They ride on horses, arrayed as a man for battle against you, O daughter of Babylon. The king of Babylon heard the report of them, and his hands fell helpless. Anguish seized him, pain as of a woman in labor. Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Babylon and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans. Surely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away. Surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. At the sound of the capture of Babylon, the earth shall tremble and her cry shall be heard among the nations. So far the reading from God's word this evening. May he add its blessing to our hearts. Well the length of this chapter makes it a fairly difficult passage to summarize in one sermon. And so the goal for tonight is not to look at all the details that we might encounter in the 50th chapter of Jeremiah. Our goal instead is to get a general sense of the fate of Babylon and then compare it and contrast it to what's going on with Israel. It's to see and understand the mercy of God as shown to Israel, while on the other hand, getting a sense of the justice and judgment that God issues against Babylon. And so, parts of this passage are not easy or pleasant in terms of the language and the destruction that's being described for us, but this chapter is very necessary for us to learn that the power of nations lasts only for a season, and their faithlessness will be judged by the Lord, and yet God's presence with his people and his mercy with Israel is seen to be eternal. And so we want to learn about the judgment of God on Babylon, We want to learn about the restoration of Israel, and we want to learn about the ruin of Babylon. So we want to see that the power of nations lasts for a season, and their faithlessness is judged by the Lord. And on the other hand, we want to see that God's presence with his people is seen in his mercy, which is eternal. We want to see the judgment on Babylon, the restoration of Israel, and the ruin of Babylon. Babylon. So we want to begin by looking at God's judgment on Babylon. It's interesting when you come to Jeremiah 50, throughout the book of Jeremiah, he has gotten in trouble. Repeatedly, Jeremiah has gotten in trouble as he's announced the destruction of Judah at the hand of the Babylonians. He has called the people of Israel to obey this conquering army. He's called the people of Judah to submit themselves to the king of Babylon. And he has foretold Judah's fall at the hand of the Babylonian king in many chapters. In chapters 20, 21, 22. 25, 27, 28, 29, 32, 34, 37, 38, 11 chapters in this book have dealt with the destruction that the king of Babylon will visit on Judah. In addition to the announcement of Babylon's judgment on Judah, this book has also foretold Babylon as the judge of Egypt in chapters 43 and 46, and also a judge of Qadar directly in chapter 49. So that gives you 14 chapters out of the 52 that describe Babylon's conquering of Judah or other nations. And in addition to a simple description of what Babylon will do to Israel, to Judah, to the other nations, Babylon is specifically described in a place like Jeremiah 28.14 as an agent of judgment from the Lord. That God is the one who is sending Babylon to exact this sentence on Judah and these other nations. Now, as Babylon carried out this task that God gave them, whether they were cognizant of it or ignorant of it, they were extremely effective. They were ruthless in the way they carried out God's commands, and we have seen that in other places of Scripture. And so Babylon, their army had decimated the region for 70 plus years. They were the superpower of Palestine at this time. They had an army that no one wanted to face, an army that everybody was afraid of, and their tactics were so brutal that they were feared throughout the world. Even God, when he describes the Babylonians, he speaks of their ways in a way that, in a sense that describes them as extremely ruthless. And we see that in the prophet Habakkuk. The prophet Habakkuk is a prophet who calls for God to judge the wicked. He doesn't understand why the wicked are allowed to prosper in Israel, and so he calls for God to judge the wicked in Israel. And God responds with an answer, and he says, I will judge, and I am going to judge the wicked in Israel, and I'm gonna use the Chaldeans to do it. And this is how Habakkuk describes, by the mouth of God himself, the Chaldeans as an army. They are a bitter and a hasty nation who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome. Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle, swift to devour. They all come from violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men whose own might is their God." And that's the Babylonian nation, that's the Babylonian army, bitter, hasty, dreaded, fearsome, violent, and yet God's instruments, God's instruments of judgment. They were effective in their work, and so throughout the prophecy of Jeremiah, you see this prediction of Judah going into captivity, and we've seen that fulfilled to some extent. Already. But as the book comes to a close, as the book ends, the last word of judgment against the nations other than Israel is reserved for this agent of God's judgment, the nation of Babylon. The prophet who was seen as a traitor for declaring that Judah should submit itself to Babylon and for declaring that Judah would be conquered as we saw in chapter 38, this prophet who was seen as a traitor also pronounces just sentence against the very agent of God's judgment. Jeremiah speaks the word of the Lord concerning Babylon, and that's how this chapter begins. And as we begin this chapter and we read of the judgment of God against Babylon, We see something that was said often of her now being true against her. So, for example, in verse 3, it speaks of a nation coming out of the north which shall make her land a desolation and none shall dwell in it. Both man and beast shall flee away. How many times have we heard something like that? Something maybe not verbatim but similar to that, describing Babylon and her work against the people of Israel. So now the very thing done by Babylon, too many nations will be done to Babylon. Another nation will be raised up and will desolate her and her land. Her gods, Bel and Merodach, the chief gods of Babylon, they will not be able to save or deliver the people of Babylon from the hands of their assailants. And so, their destruction is certain. But at the same time, their destruction is a marker of sorts. Babylon will be completely destroyed But then at the same time, something wonderful will be taking place in Israel. As Babylon is destroyed, as death comes to Chaldea, life will be restored to the land of Judah. Israel will be marked by a return to Jerusalem. And so we want to look also at the restoration of Israel, beginning specifically in verse 4. So as Jeremiah speaks of the destruction of Babylon, the people of Israel will have a change of heart, so to speak. And so we have seen in other books, and maybe you remember from your own reading in Ezra, one, there's the first year of Cyrus, the prince of Persia, the king of the Persian Empire, the Persian Empire being the one that defeated Babylon. In the first year of Cyrus's reign, the people of Israel are allowed to return. So, as Babylon's rule and reign in the world ends through being conquered by the Persians, Israel is allowed to return to her land, and so this prophecy actually shows the nature of the return of both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom to the land of Israel. In verse four, you see the people of Israel and the people of Judah coming together. That's a description that shows a reunion of the separation of the nations. You remember during the reign of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was split in two, and there was the northern kingdom called in the Book of Kings the Kingdom of Israel. And then you had the Southern Kingdom, which was under the rule of the Davidic kings, being the Kingdom of Judah. And here in this section of scripture, there's a prediction that both the Northern and the Southern Kingdom will be reunited. Not only had they been split apart during the rule of Rehoboam but since then they have been separated by geography as well because in 722 BC the Assyrians carried off the northern kingdom and now in 586 BC the Babylonians had carried off the people of Judah. But here they're coming back together again. It doesn't matter whatever past differences they had, whatever obstacles were internal or external in terms of the geography and the challenges of geography that they face now. During the first year of Cyrus, the Persian king, they're allowed to return to Israel. And what Jeremiah does is he describes the nature of their return. He describes their heart as they return to Israel. And so, what you see is a description of a people coming together in tears, seeking the Lord. They are seeking the Lord with tears, it says in verse four, and they are seeking the way to Zion. What you have is a description of a repentant people. They are a people who are fed up with their own sin, with their own comforts, and they're fleeing from them now, turning to the Lord, and that's a new thing for Judah and for Israel. Even the remnant that had fled to Egypt after Gedaliah, the governor, had been murdered by Ishmael. Even that remnant which fled to Egypt against the counsel of the prophet, when Jeremiah confronts them with their idolaters' worship in Egypt, there they still double down. They don't turn from their sin to the Lord. They say, I will do what I want to do. And you see that in 44, verse 17. But now, in this instance, there is a turning. There's a turning from the people of Israel. They're looking to restore with the Lord. In verse 5, it says that they're looking for directions to Zion. That's significant because Zion is the place where the center of the worship of the one true God is located. and they're desiring to return to that place of the worship of the living God. It says furthermore that they desire to renew their covenant with the Lord, an everlasting covenant as we've seen it described in Jeremiah 31 and 32. They're desiring to return to this covenant with the Lord. seeking to be part of his people for an everlasting covenant, not a covenant that can be canceled. And it's interesting, when you come to the people of Israel and the repentance that they're demonstrating, in this chapter, Jeremiah squarely blames, their apostasy squarely blames their wandering from the Lord on the shepherds, the leaders of the people of God, the leaders of the people of God have misled them, have abandoned them in other words. And so they've exposed them and it's a very striking picture in this passage. It says in verse 6 that they led them astray and then they've exposed them to those who have devoured them in verse 7. So Israel, its apostasy has led it to be exposed to danger and that danger has led to the nations around them consuming them. And so they have been consumed by Babylon, they've been consumed by Assyria. That's the reason for Babylon's presence in the land of Judah. It's because of Judah's faithlessness, their exposure to danger because of their sin. It says even from the lips of the enemies of the people of God that they know that they're being judged because of their sin against the Lord. It says that they've sinned against the habitation of righteousness and the hope of their fathers. It says that in verse 7. All of this part of this section that deals with the restoration of Israel because even though this hardship and this judgment and this mocking from the enemies is true, here at the beginning we see them turning from that. We see them saying, no more do I want that. I want to be where the worship of the Lord is. I am grieved. I'm coming to the Lord with tears because I know, in a sense, what we were talking about this morning, this whole sense of our sin and misery and the suffering that we endure pressing us towards the Lord. Well, that's something of what Judah had experienced. They had seen the hand of the Lord against them, and they turned from it in repentance. There is a restoration to life for Israel, even as Babylon is tumbling into judgment and tumbling into death. The oppression on Israel and Judah, well, that's going to be reversed. All who took them captive, it says in verse 33, held them fast and they refused to let them go. That's Babylon. But then in verse 34 it says that the Redeemer of Israel is strong. That the Lord of hosts is his name and that he will plead their cause, that he will give rest to the earth, but unrest to the ones who are oppressing them. Unrest to the people. of Babylon. So we have this repentant people being delivered by a glorious king who is stronger than all of the mighty nations in the world, including the nation of Babylon. We see him described as the king of glory who is over all the kings in the world. The Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies is his name. And so he will be the one who orchestrates the deliverance of his people. And so there's something very interesting about the deliverance that God works for the people of Israel. There's something remarkable about Israel's and Judah's restoration. It's not just a physical restoration to a land in Palestine. It certainly is part of what God does, but look in verse 20. In verse 20, at the time of their deliverance, the Lord declares something. He says, Iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant. So God is dealing with the pardon of the sins of the people in addition to the restoration to the land that he had promised them through Abraham. Now, what is pardon? What is this pardon that God promises? Well, pardon is giving up the obligation to punish offense. It's the judge giving up the ability, not the ability, but the The intention of considering an offender guilty. So that's an amazing picture. Here we have a nation that for centuries, centuries has engaged in idolatry. Idolatry in which they engaged in practices even more immoral than the nations who were around them. That's how they are described. And yet to this people, because of the promises of God on them, they are pardoned, they are restored. That's a picture of God's mercy, a picture of God's patience. A nation filled with so much sin that God could have cast them from his sight is instead restored to the land that was promised. And so they're considered not only in a sense of pity by God, but they're considered righteous by God. That's what it says. They won't find any iniquity in Israel, and he will pardon those whom he leaves as a remnant, and no sin will be found in Judah. It's not because there won't be sinners in Judah or sinners in Israel. It's because God in his mercy will view them in that way, in anticipation of Christ, in anticipation of what Christ will do. So here, in the midst of the judgment of Babylon, we actually have a picture of the gospel. We have the restoration of Israel as they turn to the Lord, as they repent of their sin. We have the condemned sinner who turns his face away from the sin towards the Lord in faith. And that sinner who does those things is pardoned by God, as if no sin was even in his land. But there's also an understanding in this chapter as to what happens to the one who doesn't repent. And that's Babylon. Babylon is the one who is confronted with sin and doesn't repent. And so we want to look a little bit also at the ruin of Babylon. We've talked about the judgment of Babylon, that God is going to judge Babylon. Well, what does that judgment look like in the experience of Babylon? And so what we have in this chapter is really a prolonged section that describes Babylon's judgment. And the first part talks about the way that Babylon will fall. And that deals, of course, with their pride and their idolatry. The problem with these powerful nations is that they don't acknowledge the one who gives them power, and so they fall in that way. So when they act as judge against Israel, They forget the one for whom they are acting as judge. They're forgetting the chief judge himself. They're conquering nations for their own glory. They're sinning against the Lord in doing so. And the result is, it says in verse 10, that Chaldea will be plundered and that those who plunder her will not be sated, will be sated rather, will be satisfied in the plundering that they exact against her. The nations are gathered around to capture and defeat and desolate Babylon. That's the picture that we have. And that's how Babylon does fall. The Medes and the Persians, an alliance of different kings who orchestrate Babylon's fall, at least from a human perspective. And what we see in this chapter is that the judgment of the Lord on Babylon is permanent. it's not to be changed back again. There's no restoration for the people of Babylon. What we see in Israel is that there is restoration. Israel is sent away, whether by Assyria or by Babylon, but now under Cyrus, they're allowed to return. They come back to their land. That's not the case for Babylon. Babylon's judgment by the Lord is permanent. When Babylon is destroyed, it says in verse 39, that she will never recover. In fact, you notice the cities that God uses to compare the destruction of Babylon. It's Sodom and Gomorrah, these nations which were on the green plains where Lot went, which after the sulfur rained down on them as an act of God's judgment against their immorality, has never recovered. Well, God is saying the same thing about Babylon, that the destruction of Babylon is like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And sometimes when we read the language that deals with God's judgment, we pull back a little bit. I think that's partially because of the context of our culture where it's not polite to talk in these ways of nations. I don't think that the people at the time of this prophecy had any problem with divine judgment on on whole peoples being wiped out. But in our day, sometimes it's difficult to hear what Jeremiah prophesies. But he's describing God's judgment. And so we must accept it. We must receive it even with joy. When it talks in verse 13 about the wrath of the Lord against the Babylonians, we have to receive that with joy. When it speaks about the vengeance of the Lord, in verse 15, we have to receive that as something that is not evil, but something that is good, because the Lord doesn't sin. When we think about the Lord bringing punishment on Babylon, in verse 18, we receive those words with joy, because they come from the Lord. The Lord, it says in verse 25, will bring the weapons of His wrath. he will bring his sword in that section in verse 35 to 38 where that repetition, the sword against. Well, the Lord brings a sword against all these different parts, inhabitants, officials, diviners, warriors, horses, chariots, treasures. So that all of it in the end is a complete decimation of the kingdom of Babylon. So it describes what happens to Babylon in this prophecy, but it also describes how the people of Babylon experience this judgment of God. In Babylon, it says in verse 10 that they will be plundered, that they will be disgraced, that the people of Babylon will be devoted to destruction, that her soldiers, her young men will fall, that the king will be helpless, that the king will be in anguish in verse 43. In fact, when the nations see Babylon in verse 13, it says that they will be appalled. They will fight against Babylon in verse 15. And no one in Babylon will escape, it says in verse 29. They will be destroyed without mercy in verse 42. They will tremble in verse 46. It's the picture of the judgment of Babylon and it is a long description and it's meant to be utter and complete. The people who are in Babylon will be completely Babylon, it says, will never be restored. Other nations in the prophecy of Jeremiah have had the hope of restoration. So, for example, if we look at Jeremiah 46 and verse 26 dealing with God's prophecy against Egypt, it says, Afterward, Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the Lord. If you go to chapter 48 and verse 47, the prophecy against Moab, it says, yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the Lord. If you go a little bit further in chapter 49 and verse 6, when we're dealing with God's judgment on Ammon, it says, and afterward, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the Lord. The nation of Elam receives the same benefit in verse 39 of that same 49th chapter. But in the latter days, I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the Lord. But Babylon gets no such privilege. Babylon is described as Sodom and Gomorrah, never to be restored. The judgment on Babylon will be eternal. They do not turn to the Lord, and so he turns away from them forever. Not temporarily, but forever because of the hardness of their heart. Then as this chapter ends, it says something very interesting in verse 46. It says that at the sound of the capture of Babylon, the earth shall tremble and her cry shall be heard among the nations. Why will the earth tremble at the destruction of Babylon? Well, it's because the mighty have fallen. The great hope of the world is in power and in might. So when those who are strong fall, there is a sense of hopelessness for all men. Because the strongest man is weak before the Lord, therefore all who stand before the Lord tremble. When the Lord's plans are devised against any nation, there's not anything that can be done to escape it. And that's why the nations tremble at the sound of the judgment of Babylon. So what do we learn from this chapter? Well, I want to focus our attention on the section that deals with the restoration and return of Israel and Judah. And the first thing that I want to notice about this section deals with verses 6 and 7, where the shepherds are charged with responsibility for leading the people of Israel astray. And so the first lesson that I want us to take away from this section of scripture is that elders, are to do their part in protecting God's people. Now, I want to graciously extend that shepherding and elder role to all who have influence and authority over people who they are to lead in terms of their faithfulness to the Lord. So, parents and grandparents and elders in the church certainly, pastors in the church certainly included, but all of those who are charged with care over a human soul, we are to do our part in protecting God's people. And so there is this question for those who have been given charge over the precious souls that God has created for his own glory. And we're to learn something from the reproof of the shepherds of Israel in this chapter and their part in leading Israel astray. And the question that we ask of elders and of those who are leading human souls, are you leading sheep astray? That's a fairly basic question, but one that we must wrestle with and think about because we live in these worlds from day to day. Are you leading sheep astray? Are you exposing your children or those under your care to the danger of wolves who would devour them. That's a terrifying thought, or it should be a terrifying thought. It should be a terrifying thought for any elder in any church because he knows his inadequacies, but it also should be a terrifying thought for a parent, for a mother, or a father, for one who has influence over people in another realm. Are you leading them? Are you exposing them to the danger of wolves who would devour them? But the answer to these questions are not complicated. They might be difficult to implement, but they're not complicated. How do you make sure that you're not leading sheep astray? Well, the only way anyone will ever know that he's not leading the sheep of the Lord astray is to study the way that God instructs people to shepherd his sheep. to study the ways that God has said his children should be raised, to study the way in which the church should be cared for. To shepherd God's people well, in other words, cannot be done without a study of God's word. That's where the chief shepherd teaches anyone how to shepherd his sheep. It teaches us there how his sheep are supposed to walk and the paths they are supposed to follow. It's not our job as leaders of souls to forge a new path. It's not our job as leaders of souls to make neat innovations for God's people to follow. No, our job is simply to lead people in the right path, to protect them from leaving that right path. Now, it's possible that as you're leading, whoever you're responsible for, while you're leading them along the path, you could come to parts of the path that are overgrown. You could come to parts of the path where nobody has walked for many years. Maybe it's a neglected part of the path, but your job as one who shepherds human souls is to lead Christ's sheep onto the path that has already been established. It's not to bring out your bulldozer and make a new path. That's not your job. Your job is to walk in the ways that God has already built. In doing so, in walking in those ways, danger for the sheep is averted. And to fail to do so, to fail to walk in those ways, means that danger is increased and that people will fall, that people will be exposed to danger, even as the shepherds of Israel exposed the people to danger. So first, as leaders of human souls, we have to do our part in protecting God's people. The second thing that we learn from this passage is that the church's repentance is marked by it turning to the Lord and true worship. And so that's another thing that we have to learn as God's people. There's not any shortage of things to criticize the North American church over. We can pick all sorts of things out of reports that we've read and all sorts of things like that, but when we think of repentance, and worship, it's important, it's imperative for us as God's people to turn to ourselves first. We don't need to worry, first of all, about what that church over there is doing. We have to worry, first of all, with what we are doing here. What are we living like in the presence of God? The people of God are gathered to worship in Jesus' name in the church. But there are places in the world where God's name is blasphemed and it's possible that God's name would be blasphemed by us as well. True worship is worship in the heart of man, heart of a woman that's only directed towards the Lord. It's a worship that remembers how you were in Babylon But now through your tears, you have repented, you have been given directions back to Zion, and there you are. By God's grace, you find yourself restored to Jerusalem through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so our primary concern isn't the worship of others, but to look at our own worship. Now, I want to say that as a pastor, I've served as your pastor for seven years, more than seven years. And in those seven years, it has been my delight to see the zeal for the worship of the Lord in this congregation. There is a seriousness and a God-centeredness and a Bible-focusedness about the worship of this congregation. But we always have to be on our guard. that our worship isn't directed towards our worship, but that our worship is directed towards the God who is the object of our worship. Isn't it so easy to look at what we are doing in terms of worship and to pat ourselves on the back and to say we're doing this right and we're doing that right and just to congratulate ourselves? We end up worshipping our worship instead of worshipping the one who is to be worshipped by our worship, if you can follow all of those worships. Is our worship marked by turning to God as it should be? That's the question we have to ask ourselves. We don't have to ask it about any other congregation. Primarily we ask it about ourselves. Is that what we're doing? Another thing that I'm very grateful for as pastor of this congregation, I'm very grateful for the times of prayer that we have together. On Wednesday night as we gather for prayer after we enjoy a meal together, if you've been part of those times of prayer, they can be some of the most edifying times of prayer that I've experienced in my Christian life. It's a great blessing for me as a pastor to know that there are times when we get together for prayer that I can just sit and be washed in the prayers of the saints. I don't need to pray myself. I don't need to lead the congregation in prayer because the prayers of the congregation are so rich. They are mature. They are a blessing to my heart. But we always have to be on our guard that our prayers are directed to the Lord and not directed to the people in the room. You know what I mean. We have to be on our guard that our worship is not so that the people, our prayers are not so that the people can hear how well we pray, but that our prayers are truly offered to the Lord, that we are humbling ourselves to the Lord, that we are not going to our own houses, but we are going, in fact, to Zion to worship the Lord as a congregation. So we always have to be asking ourselves those kinds of questions. Is the worship that we are offering, is it truly directed to the Lord or is it an idolatry that looks like Christianity? Are we worshipping ourselves because we're using the right words but we're worshipping the wrong object? That's the question we have to ask first of ourselves, not of the people around us because The motions of worship are not the same thing as worship itself. Isn't that right? The motions of worship are not the same thing as worship. To live as if you are the people of God is not the same thing as turning to the Lord and saying, what is the way to Zion? Is it possible that our lives have become about making the right impression? That's not my sense of how things are, but it's possible that that's what happens in any Christian's life. It doesn't seem to me that that's the case here, but are we asking ourselves those questions? Aren't we all as people sometimes tempted to put on our Sunday face? You know what I mean, right? You put yourself out there in public and your public face is very different from what you're experiencing in your family or when you're by yourself. acting as if you are the people of God isn't the same thing as living as the people of God. And so we are charged here in this passage by Israel's example to make sure we're not just looking right, but we're actually seeking after the Lord. The question for us tonight is, what is your life marked with? What is the purpose of your life marked with? Do you praise God Almighty as the creator of heaven and earth? Do you worship Him for His mercy to you in Christ Jesus, for how He took you out of captivity and brought you into freedom? Are you thanking Him for the pardon of your sins that are yours in Christ Jesus? Are you thanking Him for those things? Or are you just acting like you're thanking Him for those things so that you can look the part? Are we, as a congregation, truly turned to the Lord? Are we directed to Him? It's a question that this passage challenges us to ask ourselves. You see Babylon is the superpower of the day, a mighty nation and it's ruined for its unwillingness to worship the Lord. It's ruined for its unwillingness to repent of its sin. On the contrast you have Israel who at this time is an extremely weak nation with no hope of a future at all and this nation is restored to their own land for their turning to the Lord. That's because the power of man, the power of man, even in the most powerful nations in the world, lasts only for a season and it lasts as long as God is pleased to give it to them. Although God is the one who gives them power, who gives nations power, nations are judged by the Lord for how they use it. And so the faithless use of power is condemned by God. But in this chapter, in the middle of all this talk of judgment and the terror that will be Babylon's, there's this glimmer of hope, this glimmer of the gospel in a few verses amongst the 46. It's a maintenance of the mercy of God towards the people of Israel. God brings his people back. He brings them back with tears in their eyes over their sin. He brings them back and they're crying out for the way to Zion that they would be restored to the right worship of God, that they would be restored to the covenant of God, this eternal everlasting covenant. You see, God's people return in this chapter in repentance. They return with grief over sin, and they trust in the Lord to work restoration for them. Now, those are the marks of a restored people. Those are the marks of a people who are walking by faith and not by sight. Those are the marks of the people of God. And to them, God shows his mercy day by day. Let's pray together.