Let's turn together in God's Word to Jeremiah 46. Jeremiah 46, as we look at verses 1 through 28. Jeremiah 46, verse 1 through 28. Jeremiah 46, beginning in verse 1, where God reads as follows. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations, about Egypt, Concerning the army of Pharaoh Nico, king of Egypt, which is by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. Prepare buckler and shield and advance for battle. Harness the horses. Mount, O horsemen. Take your stations with your helmets. Polish your spears. Put on your armor. Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and have turned backward. Their warriors are beaten down and have fled in haste. They look not back. Terror on every side, declares the Lord. The swift cannot flee, nor the warrior escape. In the north, by the river Euphrates, they have stumbled and fallen. Who is this rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge? Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge. He said, I will rise, I will cover the earth, I will destroy cities and their inhabitants. Advance, O horses, and rage, O chariots. Let the warriors go out, the men of Kush and Put, who handle the shield, men of Lod, skilled in handling the boat. That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance to avenge himself on his foes. The sword shall devour and be sated, and drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain you have used many medicines. There is no healing for you. The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry, for warrior has stumbled against warrior. They have both fallen together." The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to strike the land of Egypt. Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdal, proclaim in Memphis and Tapanese. Say, stand ready and be prepared for the sword shall devour around you. Why are your mighty ones face down? They do not stand because the Lord thrust them down. He made many stumble and they fell and they said to one another, arise and let us go back to our own people and to the land of our birth because of the sword of the oppressor. Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, noisy one who lets the hour go by. As I live, declares the Lord, whose name is the Lord of hosts, like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come. Prepare yourselves baggage for exile, O inhabitants of Egypt, for Memphis shall become a waste, a ruin, without inhabitant. A beautiful heifer is Egypt, but a biting fly from the north has come upon her. Even her hired soldiers in her midst are like fattened calves. Yes, they have turned and fled together. They did not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their punishment." She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away, for her enemies march in force and come against her with axes, like those who fell trees. They shall cut down her forest, declares the Lord, though it is impenetrable. Because they are more numerous than locusts, they are without number. The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame. She shall be delivered into the hand of the people from the north. The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said, Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Ammon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, and her gods, and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his officers. Afterward, Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the Lord. But fear not, O Jacob, my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, declares the Lord, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished. So far, the reading from God's word this evening, may he add his blessing to our hearts. There's so many stories that we enjoy that are vengeance stories, right? Stories where a sense of human justice makes you long that the wronged one would get even with the villains. In many cases, as we're reading those kinds of stories, we're even willing to overlook the great sins of the hero, if only the anti-hero would get his just desserts. The problem, of course, with these stories is that they're accounts of human vengeance, and human vengeance is always tainted with injustice. But in this account, we're dealing with God's vengeance. And God's vengeance is always pure. Here we see God's vengeance in all his purity leveled against Egypt. And what we learn from this chapter in the book of Jeremiah is that God's burning hatred of sin is seen in his judgment on Egypt, but his mercy rests on Israel. And to learn that lesson, we're going to look at the presumption of the wicked in verses one through four, We're going to look at the vengeance of the Lord in verses 5 through 26, and we're going to look at the salvation of the righteous in verses 27 and 28. So we want to see God's burning hatred of sin is seen in His judgments on Egypt, but His mercy is seen in Israel. We're going to look at the presumption of the wicked, the vengeance of the Lord, and the salvation of the righteous. So let's begin by looking at the presumption on the wicked. When we come to chapter 46 of Jeremiah, we're entering into a new section of the book. So chapter 45, up to that point, we've had a back and forth of historical narratives, not necessarily chronological, but certainly historical narratives. Now, from chapter 46 to chapter 51, we read the end of it this evening in our earlier reading. We're going to read a section where there are many judgments against foreign nations. Jeremiah is going to focus on the judgments of the Lord against many nations, beginning with Egypt and ending with Babylon. And the last chapter of the book will be an account of the fall of Jerusalem, but we're in a section where there's a, we're on a certain bookshelf with bookends, right? On the one end we have Egypt, and on the other we have Babylon, and the judgments of God against these nations are going to be declared by the prophet. It's interesting, of course, because Egypt is the nation out of which Israel came to enter into the promised land. That's the first nation that's dealt with in Jeremiah's prophecy. The last nation, Babylon, is the nation that carried them out of the land of promise, which they took possession of after they exited, they had the exodus out of Egypt. So here we come to these two nations, Egypt and Babylon, both of whom were agents of God used to carry out the Lord's purposes. And Egypt is such an agent. Egypt was used by God. It is the land in which God gave refuge to Jacob and his family way back in in Genesis, as they fled from the famine that was in Canaan. But it's also the nation that God sets apart to be a special picture of his wrath, as it's recorded in Romans 9 and verse 17. You have the nation of Egypt as a picture of God's wrath resting on the people of His choosing. There is God's blessing resting on the people of Israel, the nation of His choosing, but also Egypt and Pharaoh being an example of a nation set apart so that they would be, that through their rebellion, God's power would be displayed and his name would be proclaimed. The land of Egypt would be used to prefigure what Christ does in delivering us from our sin, just as he leads Israel out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, so also he leads us out of our slavery to sin through the work of Christ. And so, here today, we're looking at that Egypt, this instrument used by the hand of the Lord, instruments used, but today we're going to see that they are a nation of sinners, that though they are instruments of God, that yet their sin against the Lord is remembered by Him. Egypt is a nation that's been given much power by the Lord. They were a military power for centuries in that region, but the problem with Egypt was that throughout their military might, they never turned to the Lord and never sought after the Lord. They do not look to the Lord as they use the power that he had given to them. They live their lives thinking that their strength is their own, not thinking of anyone else when it comes to how they use their might. And so when we're looking at the presumption of the wicked in verses 1 through 4, you see that in verses 3 and 4 where... It's almost like you're hearing a snippet of the officers of the Egyptian army getting their troops ready for battle. And there's a presumption about their commands. They're just getting ready for war, using the buckler and the shield to advance in battle, their horses and their horsemen, their spears and their armor, presuming on the victory that they may or may not be given. You see, Egypt is doing what it has been doing for centuries. For centuries, the Egyptian armies have conquered others, but now we see them doing what they want to do without thinking about God at all. They trust in their military might for success. Their presumption is that the ways of the past will continue in the present. That's a description of a life lived without reference to God. That's the description of a life of a person who doesn't even consider God in the things that he does. There's not any seeking the face of the Lord in prayer. There's not any expression of gratitude to the Lord for the way he has preserved them over their centuries. There's not any recognition that the things that they have received, they've received not from their own strength, but from God. And that's, of course, the false confidence of the wicked. The wicked think that way. God, of course, can turn their fortunes on a dime, but they're not thinking about those things. They're thinking, presuming that things will continue as they always have. Now, that's true for Egypt. That's also true for us here in the United States of America. And for individuals within our country, we have this same weakness as well, this weakness of presumption that God's grace will continue. It's not just a principle that's applied to nations. It's a principle that rests on individuals as well. It's applied to men and women and children who are prayerless, who never think of the blessings that God brings their way. And you see Jesus teaching that very thing In Luke 12, beginning in verse 16, this parable of the rich fool, this man who enjoyed blessings from the Lord, abundant crops. And remember, he says he's going to tear down his barns and build himself bigger ones, presuming that all this wealth that he is accumulating will continue. And what does God say to him in verse 20? Fool. This night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So you see the presumption of man can quickly come to an end as the Lord interferes and intervenes in his plans and in his life. The God who isn't acknowledged by the presumptuous fool, he's still present. The God who isn't prayed to, the God who isn't thanked, He's still there. He is still sovereign over the lives of the people who are presumptuous, whether they be individuals or whether they be nations. And so here in the case of Egypt, God is punishing them for their presumption. And we see God's punishment in a large chunk of this chapter in verses 5 through 26 as we have a description of the vengeance of the Lord against the Egyptians. Because Egypt doesn't turn to the Lord, God's judgment therefore falls on them. Now, this is different than the judgment that God visits on Israel, which we'll see, because the judgment of Egypt isn't a paternal discipline. It's not a paternal care for children who have been disobedient against the instruction of their parents. This is not a correction of sin with the aim of restoration and sanctification. What's described instead is it's a slaughter. It's given several names in this chapter in verse 10. We see it described as a day of vengeance. And in verse 21, we see it described as a day of calamity and as a time of punishment. And so God is bringing his vengeance against the people of Egypt, and the violence from the Lord against Egypt is unmistakable. And in some sense, it's kind of, it's almost difficult to read the ways in which God describes what he will do to the Egyptians. In verse 10, as he introduces this day of vengeance, he says, the sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of blood. It's an ugly picture. It's a picture of bloodthirst, almost. It speaks of this sword which won't be satisfied. It will drink its fill of blood. In verse 14, it says that this sword will devour, that the mighty warriors of Egypt will lie face down, meaning that they are slain, meaning that life has passed from them, that they are dead. It says in verse 16 that they will stumble and fall, and that God is the one who will make them stumble and fall. In verse 23, it says that God will make them desolate. In verse 24, it says that God will put them to shame. This is the vengeance, the violence of the Lord against the people of Egypt and none of it is expected by them. They're living their lives assuming that everything is going to be the same tomorrow as it is today as it was yesterday. But they are the enemies of God and God is avenging himself on his foes. Now, God's vengeance isn't like our vengeance. When somebody wrongs you, when somebody sins against you, when somebody hurts you, you can be tempted to have thoughts of vengeance. And when we have thoughts of vengeance, we basically want the people who hurt us to hurt as we have been hurt. We want them to suffer like we have suffered, plus a little bit more. That would be nice, if they could suffer a little bit more than we have suffered. And our feelings of vengeance in that sense are always sinful. They're not based around the glory of God. They're based around a response, a reaction to our experience, our circumstances, and how we feel about them. But God's vengeance isn't like that. Our vengeance isn't pure. It's not a holy vengeance, but the vengeance of the Lord is different. The day of the Lord's vengeance is pure. He is punishing Egypt. Egypt, a nation of idolaters. How long has Egypt worshipped false gods instead of the God of Scripture? For centuries. For centuries, Egypt has practiced idolatry. They have not worshipped the Lord. They have not sought him. They have not cried out to him. They have not confessed sin to him. And in the Lord's economy of how things work, that's a problem. That's called idolatry. And it's deserving of His wrath and of His curse. Now, in our day, we live in a system of religious pluralism. And religious pluralism basically says, you worship your God, and you worship your God, and you worship your God, and we just leave each other alone, as long as we're not hurting each other's feelings about it. In most cases, of course, except if you're worshiping the Christian God, then religious pluralism isn't acceptable anymore. But in religious pluralism, we accept all gods. I'll worship my God, and everything is going to be okay, and you worship your God. But the God of Scripture, is not a religious pluralist. The God of Scripture isn't one who says, you worship your God, and you worship your God, and you guys over here, the Israelites, you worship me. God doesn't speak that way. God isn't a religious pluralist. In heaven, religious pluralism will not be permitted. There is no space for all the other religions in heaven. The other religions will have their own space, but it will be away from the presence of God in hell. And that's not a statement of pride. That's not a Christian saying, I'm better than everybody else. That's the word of God recorded, written down by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That's simply reporting the facts of Scripture. The Bible says that all who sin against God, who do not turn from their sin, who do not seek their protection in Him, will suffer as the Egyptians will suffer. You see, the world isn't condemned because of ignorance. Their presumption isn't the main cause of their condemnation, but their presumption is an evidence of the state of their hearts. See, the presumption of the Egyptians is the fruit of the reality that they don't acknowledge God. It's an evidence that the Lord isn't their God, that they serve someone else. They have replaced the creator with images of the creatures and have prostrated themselves before the creatures instead. So that is the presumption, that is the root of the sin of the people of Egypt. They have blasphemed the name of God Almighty. They have failed to worship the one true God in any sense of the word. And so Egypt faces God's vengeance over their sin. Now, this chapter where there's so much of the destruction of Egypt in the picture is quite heavy at times. In this chapter, we see the great weight of sin. This chapter keeps us from ever saying that God doesn't care about sin. that God doesn't think idolatry isn't a big deal, that God is just an easygoing God in the sky. God loves his creation, which is established through common grace. He gives his reign to the righteous and to the unrighteous, but God hates sin more. One day, the patience of God will expire, and the judgment will rest on all those who have not worshiped him. Sin is rebellion against the triune God. And there's only one response for sin. It is the justice of God. The justice of God must be applied against sin. And when we read of the justice of God in scripture, the justice of God is never just a slap on the wrist. When we read of the justice of God, it's always this kind of a description. Terror for the unbeliever poured out against him. You see, in some sense, Egypt is really at death's door as a nation. God is about to destroy them. And in Hebrews 9, it tells us that it's left for us to die once and then to face the judgment of God. Well, Egypt is about to die as a nation. They're about to face the judgment of God as a nation. What is still a future for you and me, we're not on death's doorstep right now as far as we know. We don't know what the future holds, but we all seem fairly healthy at this point. We're not at death's door now, so what's future for us is a present reality for Egypt. They're about to die and face that judgment of God. They face the day of the Lord as it's described in scripture, this day of His judgment, and they will stand before Him without a mediator. Egypt has rejected the need of Christ, and so they stand before God without a mediator. They're summoned without a substitute into God's courtroom. And so in that sense, what we read here about Egypt is a shadow. It's a shadow of what will happen on the day of the Lord, the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. There God will take vengeance on his enemies on that day as well. His vengeance will look somewhat like what happened to Egypt, except it will be intensified because there will be an eternity about it. In Hebrews 10, we talked about how it's left for everyone to die and then face the judgment of God. That's why in Hebrews 10 verse 31, that whole understanding of facing God without a mediator is drawn out for us. It says there, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. This is the truth. If you stand before God without a mediator, if you stand before God without a substitute, it is a fearful thing to be in His presence. Because God hates your sin. Because God will punish disobedience against Him. Because there is a legal debt that you owe against Him because of your sin. And that is what elicits the vengeance of the Lord, also against the Egyptians, but something future for us to consider as well. But this chapter is not a chapter that leaves us entirely without hope, as we see in the last two verses, the salvation of the righteous promised. There is hope extended in this chapter. This chapter distinguishes between God's enemies and his people. There is sin in both, both God's people and in the nations all around. And Egypt should be dismayed, though they're not completely destroyed. In verse 26, we read that Egypt shall be inhabited later on, as in the days of old, according to the Lord's decree. So they're not going to be completely destroyed. but their final judgment is simply delayed. Now Israel, in this chapter, has already faced God's discipline, but it's of a different sort, where the people of Egypt should fear because they face the judgment of God. The judgment against Israel is of a different kind. In verse 27, God begins his address of the people of Israel by saying, fear not. Whatever overwhelming terror might come against the Egyptians, the first words from the Lord in this chapter of judgment for Jacob are to not be afraid. He instills calm for them. Pharaoh is punished. Israel is disciplined. Pharaoh is in dismay, but Israel should not fear. There is a distinction between the people of God and the other nations. There's a difference between the discipline of Jacob and the punishment of Egypt. What happened in Egypt was an act of vengeance, an act of calamity. But what happened to Israel was an act of discipline, the act of a father to a child. God's action against Egypt is a permanent judgment. In verse 28, God says that even he will make a full end of all the nations. But God, in sending Israel away, is temporary. It's going to be reversed. The Lord will bring them back. And in verse 28, he says of Israel that he will not make a full end of them. So, we see backslidden Israel. Israel overrun with sin. Backslidden Israel is hard-pressed, but she is also still protected. She is in agony because of the discipline of the Lord, but the Lord knows where she is. The Lord will call her back. The Lord may seem to be far away, but he knows where Israel is. He knows where to find them. He is telling them, even in their difficult condition, that they need not be afraid. He will punish them for their sin, but he will still bring them back again. And so we see this distinction between the people of God and the nations all around. And as we look at this chapter of vengeance and this promise for the people of God at the end, there are two things that I want us to consider as a congregation. The first thing that we should consider is that there is hope for the backslidden Christian. A backslidden Christian is a Christian who is overwhelmed by sin. They have neglected the means of grace that God has given to them perhaps, or perhaps God has brought certain circumstances into their lives. They have fallen into great sin and they are in a sense entrapped by that sin. But there is hope for the backslidden Christian. One of the foundational pillars of the reformed understanding of our salvation is that the saints will be preserved. They will persevere. Maybe you're here tonight, maybe you're struggling because of your sin. I can't see what's going on in your heart. Are you engaged in willful, stubborn sin like Israel? Maybe it's sin that only you know about. Well, then, my brother and sister, if that's true of you, then you are a backslidden Christian. You are grieving the Holy Spirit. You are displeasing your God. Now, do you feel the discipline of the Lord because of your sin? Do you feel the hand of the Lord weighing on you? The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints isn't incompatible. with the doctrine of Christians who are backslidden. In the Westminster Confession of Faith in the 17th chapter is a chapter on the perseverance of the saints, this glorious doctrine that says that God will preserve his children to the end. But in the third paragraph of that chapter, there's an affirmation that though you never fully fall away from the faith if you are in Christ, that Satan and the world and the corruption of your flesh can lure you away into grievous sins. God will discipline you in those sins. And maybe that's what you're feeling today. Maybe you're feeling the discipline of the Lord. If you are a backslidden Christian facing the discipline of the Lord, I would warn you. Brace yourself. It could become much worse. but attached to the discipline of the child of God is that promise of restoration. That promise that's contained here in Jeremiah at the end, I will not make a full end of you. The Christian is disciplined for his sin, but it's not an eternal punishment. It's not an act of vengeance by God Almighty. It's a discipline that God presses on you so that you would repent. so that you would turn to him, so that you would be restored to him. It drives you away from your sin. If you are a backslidden man or woman, boy or girl today, I would encourage you to heed the discipline of the Lord. Don't harden your heart to your sin. Don't say, my sin doesn't matter. Allow your conscience to be soft. Do not allow your conscience to be wounded by persisting in sin. Do not hurt, do not scandalize those who are around you. In Christ, because you are in Christ, you are offered a return. You're offered a return through repentance. It's a picture that Jesus gives us in scripture, isn't it? Of what happens when we're backslidden and how we are welcomed back into our father's house, that parable of the prodigal son. The son who squanders his father's inheritance in loose living and realizes the discipline of the circumstances on him and he decides to return to his father's house. He thinks, I'm not good enough to be my father's servant. And you know what? The reality of that account is he's right. He doesn't deserve even a place in his father's house as a servant. But when he returns to his father, what does his father do? His father doesn't treat him like a servant. He treats him like a son. He runs out to meet him. He embraces him. He has a feast for him. Backslidden Christian, that's how your father feels about you. That's how your father in heaven will celebrate your return to him in repentance. So there's hope for you as a backslidden Christian, just as there was hope for Israel here at the end of this chapter. But the second thing that we learn from this chapter is that we should not think of sin lightly. Now it doesn't matter if you're backslidden or not, your view of sin should match God's view of sin. And when God sees sin, all sin, He hates it with a holy hatred. You see, when a creature sins, the creature besmirches the name of the creator. And this chapter shows us something of God's response to sin. God is gracious in his word. He gives us a tangible expression that we can kind of get our minds wrapped around a little bit that tell us how he thinks of sin. This day of vengeance against Egypt, that's how God thinks of sin. This picture of a sword that can't be satisfied, that is sated in blood, this sword of vengeance of the Lord against idolatrous Egypt. That's a picture of how God responds to sin. Now his response to sin has much more gravity than ours often does, isn't that right? I mean, I'm not talking about other people's sins. We usually recognize the gravity of other people's sins. We're pretty good at recognizing other people's sins. But is our assessment of our sin, does it match God's assessment of our sin? You know the way that he views the sins of Egypt? If you are not in Christ, that's how he views your sin as well. The only difference between your sin if you are in Christ and the sin of the unbeliever who is not in Christ is that your sins in Christ have been placed on Christ. The agony of Christ on the cross was for your sin. That was the day of the vengeance of the Lord for your sin poured out on another. That is the hatred that God has for sin. He hates it so much that he would send his own son to bear the punishment of it so that you would be free from the guilt of it. So we must see the heavy weight associated with sin. We must feel it. We must see the reaction that God has to sin and it should make us tremble with fear. We should never deal with sin as if it's inconsequential. We should always know that the wrath and vengeance of God that is visited on the sins of man. But God also gives a way to relieve the burden of sin in Jesus Christ. His work makes us free from sin by faith. Free from the dominion of sin because God sets you free. Free from the guilt of sin because Christ died for your sins. That's not a small event. It caused our Savior to sweat drops of blood as he anticipated the cross. He did that because of your sin. He anticipated the suffering for the sins of his people, and he was in agony over the punishment and vengeance of the father that would fall on him in their place. So don't take that lightly. Don't think that God doesn't care about your sin. Every once in a while, let that wash over you. Let that thought wash over you as you realize what God did because of your sin, because of my sin. Let it be used to train us to hate sin with a holy hatred, to hate sin as God hates sin. You see, the violence of God towards sin should be terrifying for us. We should not misunderstand it. Many respond to God's vengeance over sin and they say to themselves and they say to others that that's not fair. How could God be so cruel? How could God be so bloodthirsty? But beloved of the Lord, God is the master of this world. He spoke it, and it became. He has made it, and because He made it, He creates the rules as well. And what God has established from the beginning, which He told to Adam in the Garden of Eden very clearly, all who sin will surely die. That is what God has declared from the beginning. And when Adam and Eve failed, the second part came into this world. All who come to Christ by faith will be spared. Because we have all sinned in Adam, we all deserve to die. And the second part is a glorious promise. All who come to the Lord God through Christ by faith in Him will be spared. So what does this chapter teach us? to leave behind the evil of sin, to flee the terror of God's wrath, and to behold His mercy in Christ, to return to the Lord, even as He invites you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, His mercy, His salvation. That is the very solution to the agony of sin. It is the very solution to the terror of God's vengeance. It is the very thing that will return you into His warm embrace as you find rescue from the guilt of your sin in the salvation of Christ. Let's pray together.