Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 9:11–25
Morning to everyone. You can turn in your Bibles with me to Jeremiah chapter 9. Jeremiah 9. We'll have a look this morning at the proper Christian posture in light of our great creator, our great providential sustainer, and our great redeemer, the one and only living and true God.
And it comes in the context of inevitable judgment against disobedient nation of Israel as God's divine tool, Nebuchadnezzar, his cronies, and the Babylonian armies are coming in concert with covenantal promise for disobedience to the divine covenant. And in the context of this, though, there is much hope in God, and God presses the knowledge of him as the one who is merciful, as the one who is just judge, as the one who has true righteousness, and as the one who delights in those who delights in these things. I'm gonna pick up reading Jeremiah 9 at verse 11, and we'll read to the end of the chapter. Our focus, though, will be verses 23 and 24.
So this is Jeremiah 9, beginning at verse 11, the word of the triune God. I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate without an inhabitant. Who is the wise man who may understand this?
And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through? And the Lord said, Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, nor walked according to it. But they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the bales, which their fathers taught them.
Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider and call for the mourning women that they may come and send for skillful wailing women that they may come. and let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run with tears, and our eyelids gush with water.
For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion, how we are plundered, we are greatly ashamed, because we have forsaken the land, because we have been cast out of our dwellings. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor a lamentation. For death has come through our windows, has entered our palaces, to kill off the children no longer to be outside, and the young men no longer on the streets.
Speak, thus says the Lord, even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, like cuttings after the harvester, and no one shall gather them. Thus says the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, says the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised, Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
Amen. Well, let's go to our God in prayer.
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time in worship, the preaching of the Word. We do pray that you would bless this time. We pray for the power of your Holy Spirit, that for both preacher and those who are in the pews, that this would be a blessed exercise of worship where we rejoice in our God, where we hear from him, and where we rejoice in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Do bless this time and may you be exalted upon the praises of this gathered assembly.
We pray in the name of Christ, our redeeming King. Amen. Well,
Introduction
what we want to look at this morning, as mentioned, is verse 23 and verse 24. Here we have something of a blessed maxim for the people of God, and truly a blessed maxim for anyone who would, by grace through faith, come to the Savior and rejoice in Him. The structure of verses 23 and 24 are such, it's a three-fold structure. Verse 23, there's a prohibitive warning issued, what not to do.
Verse 24 A and B, there's a prescriptive counsel given what you are to do. And then thirdly, there are some attendant truths expressed, contemplations in right doing. So that's a threefold structure to the passage. And just by way of introduction, we wanna introduce the context here.
Because in preaching, we don't want to jettison the context and just draw some general observations. But rather, we want to understand what the context of the passage is, as it informs a healthier and a more robust understanding of the passage itself. So, first off, there is the inevitability of coming judgment. You might have noticed that the passage we read is bookended by judgment coming, and it is inevitable.
This judgment will come, there is no averting it, but God, according to his covenant promises, that if the people of Israel broke his covenant, he would visit the cursings of that covenant upon them. So notice at verse 11, I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals, I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. This passage starts off with the promise of inevitable coming judgment, and then it closes in that same manner. In fact, the book itself, if you look at Jeremiah 1, in Jeremiah 1, at verses 14 and 16, we have, 14 to 16, we have the announcement of this judgment.
Then the Lord said to me, 1-14, out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land, for behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord, They shall come, and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah. I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, because they have forsaken me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. So the context of the passage that we're considering is the inevitability of a coming judgment God in his justice and in his holiness is sure to his promises We must understand and we must appreciate and we must rejoice in the fact that God is true to his positive Promises his blessings upon those who are his people who believe in his son by grace through faith And he's also sure to execute the promises in a negative fashion for those who are disobedient to his covenant in this particular context, for those who reject the gospel and for those who reject the son of his love, there is the promise of covenant cursings and of eternal damnation. And so we must appreciate that God in the purity of his holiness is both merciful and just and the giver, the dispenser of grace, but he is also the one who meets out sure justice and the whirlwind of judgment upon those who disobey.
And so this text, Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, comes in the context of inevitable judgment, the righteous justice and government of God. There's also a covenantal backdrop. I've mentioned it just very briefly, but you can turn with me to Deuteronomy 28 for a moment. Remember, we just observed or we just stated that this coming inevitable judgment isn't just a God being capricious because it's judgment.
That means it's just. There is a measure of justification for the meeting out of this judgment. And this justification comes by virtue of the covenant given by God to Moses, both the first and the second generations in their wilderness wanderings. Notice in Deuteronomy And we'll pick up at verse 15.
This comes after the giving of blessings for obedience. So God delivers to the nation of Israel these blessings if they obey his commandments. And though there are also now then cursings for disobedience, and your Bible at verse 15 may say something like that, curses on disobedience. And notice verse 15, but it shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you." So there's a promise given for the breaking of this covenant.
Also notice at verse 25, the Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. And then finally, verses 45, to 47. Moreover, all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep his commandments in his statues, which he commanded you.
So, finding our way back to Jeremiah 9, we see that this passage is delivered in a covenantal context. The inevitability of judgment is coming, and the specific judgment is God's divine tool, Nebuchadnezzar, the nation of Babylon, which had supplanted the nation of Assyria that judged the northern tribes, so Nebuchadnezzar is coming as the divine tool to mete out justice according to the covenant, and according to the fact that the nation of Israel disobeyed the Lord their God. And then thirdly, the context, there is a reason for that judgment, Just very briefly, just one passage. We've already noticed it, but specifically in the passage of Jeremiah.
Notice in Jeremiah 2 at verse 12, the reason for the meeting out of divine justice. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, this is 212, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water.
So because they had gone a-whoring after others and jettisoned the God of Israel in favor of idolatry and broken the covenant, God is delivering judgment. But there is a blessed promise that comes in verse 24, and we will get there. But getting now to the text proper, verses 23 and 24, we're going to look at it in a threefold manner. And that threefold manner is this, the
The Vainglorious Quest
vainglorious quest, the virtuous path, and the voracious contemplation. And I'll explain what we mean by that when we get there. But first off, we want to notice the vainglorious quest. And that word vainglorious, kids and everyone else, there's a twofold meaning to it.
It has to do with excessive pride or arrogance excessive pride, arrogance, and excessive confidence in something, but specifically vainglorious, it's an excessive pride or arrogance in hollow or empty things. So it's a twofold madness. And we see here the vainglorious quest is given in verse 23, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches." So this prohibitive warning is issued what not to do. Wise men do not glory in your wisdom, strong men do not glory in your might, and rich men do not glory in your riches.
Before getting to the specific error of boasting in those things, we want to notice the general folly of boasting in wisdom, might, and riches. The general folly, the error, of boasting in wisdom, might, and riches. But just a qualification first. This warning is not against thankfulness for legitimate things.
Because wisdom is legitimate, might or strength is a legitimate and lawful thing, and having riches is not sinful. So these are lawful things. And so this prohibitive warning that's issued is not against thankfulness for being wise, thankfulness for having riches or thankfulness for having strength, but much rather it's the vanity of having such a confidence in an arrogance in those things that you jettison God from your contemplations and from being thankful for the things he has given you. So just a qualification there we can be thankful for those things but glorying or boasting in them in an empty in a hollow manner is Prohibited by divine command so first then the
General Folly of Vainglory
general folly of boasting in wisdom might and riches it is God who gives these things and we are to glory and boast in him and So that's the biggest and the largest point of folly if we're glorying in anything other than the Lord God Almighty who gives wisdom, who gives riches, and who gives strength. We are to boast or to glory in God. Notice you can turn with me to, for some case studies or passages that speak directly to this, you can turn with me to Psalm 68. Psalm 68.
Verse 32 to verse 35 So Psalm 68 beginning at verse 32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth. O sing praises to the Lord, say La. To him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which were of old. Indeed, he sends out his voice, a mighty voice.
Ascribe strength to God. His excellence is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. O God, you are more awesome than your holy places. The God of Israel is he who gives strength and power to his people.
So you see here the general folly of boasting, of being vainglorious with regards to wisdom, strength, and riches. It's because God has given you these things. And the psalmist calls everyone, but specifically in the context, no doubt his people, that it is God who is awesome. It is God who is excellent.
It is the God of Israel who gives strength and power to his people. So why would you, in jettisoning God from your contemplations, boast in yourself, have a self-assurance in your wisdom, a self-assurance in your strength, and a self-assurance in your riches, when it is God who gives these things, and remember, when it is God who can take away these things? God gives and God takes away. We are to bless the name of the Lord, regardless of our station, regardless of our possessions, in strength, in weakness, in richness, in poverty, in wisdom, and in foolishness, we are to praise the Lord God who gives and who takes away, and we are to bless his name.
You can turn with me to Daniel chapter four. In Daniel chapter four, we have something of a case study in self-glorying, in vainglorious In vain glory in Daniel chapter 4 and no doubt many of you will know the passage here that will be reading from it has to do with Nebuchadnezzar and interestingly Remember, it's this same Nebuchadnezzar that we're going to read about who is the powerful king with Babylon who is overthrowing Israel in our passage Jeremiah 9. And this is something that Nebuchadnezzar speaks to with regards to wisdom, might, and riches in Daniel chapter 4 verse 28. So let's begin reading there.
All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar at the end of the 12 months He was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty? Notice the boasting there. This is a perfect case study in what Jeremiah 9 is talking about, though of course, Jeremiah 9 is speaking to the nation of Israel, those who are being judged by him, by the tool of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, but nevertheless, this is the same posture that God is prohibiting, that God is commanding against.
Notice the language again, is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling, by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty. There's a lot of my, my, my there. You know, I think we could draw some parallels. We don't want to get too far afield and sort of apply this to our modern landscape, but sometimes applications are good, departing from the context for a while.
But if we, I think we could probably rename social media, you know, my wisdom, my riches, and my strength. I know there's some wholesome uses of social media out there, but it seems to be a lot of boasting and wisdom, a lot of boasting and strength, and a lot of boasting and riches. And in our modern North American landscape as well, we We tend to want to glory in what we have. We're a nation of people that like to outboat and outhouse and have the better boat or have two boats.
Our neighbor gets a new car, the Joneses get a new car, and we want to get one that's better. The better kitchen, the better home, the better life. The you know, the blondest blue-eyed children and the best photos that are captured out there in social media there's a lot of my my my in the world today and how much time as That might be carried away a little bit by the my my my with some, you know, maybe some wholesome sharing sometimes we can go overboard and But how often do we rest and do we consider and do we contemplate the fact that it's not my, my, my. It's God who has given us these things.
It's God who has blessed us with these things. And how often do we go to God in prayer to rejoice in him as the giver of all things, not boasting in ourselves, not boasting in wisdom, strength, and riches, but boasting in the God who gives and in the God who takes away. We must recognize that it is God who is the giver of all things. We've noted that, but turn with me to Acts 17.
Here we can note that it is God who is the giver of all things. So again, and I'll repeat it a lot, why boast? Why glory? Why be engaged in vain glory, the empty and the hollow, self-confident rejoicing in your stuff and in your power when it is God who gives?
Notice in Acts 17, beginning at verse 24, God, who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath, and all things. And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the earth, to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times, the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. Now notice again, for in Him we live and move and have our being. We see Two important points here, while the whole passage is important, no doubt, but the language, since he gives to all life, breath, and all things, and in him we live and move and have our being.
So, much to the contrary, much against the natural human predilection to glory in the things that we have and to glory in ourselves, we are to glory in the Lord God Almighty, the giver of all things, the one who creates, the one who sustains us, and the one who redeems us by the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Proverbs 11.4, riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. 22 to the rich and the poor have this in common. The Lord is maker of them all You see Nebuchadnezzar would learn his lesson that passage in Daniel 4 28 if we were to read on we would see that God casts Nebuchadnezzar down in his vain glory to crawl like the beast and to have claws like the beast eating grass and to teach him and to instruct him that he is to know the Lord, to know and understand him. And in fact, Nebuchadnezzar gives a good confession after that period that God judges him.
He says that it is God who is over man, that God, I'm paraphrasing here, but it's God that's over man. It's God that's over his works. It's God that gives and it's God that takes away. Nebuchadnezzar learned a lesson in divine sovereignty in that time as a beast eating grass.
So the general folly of boasting in wisdom, might, and riches, it is God who gives these things. But we want to observe the
Specific Error of Vainglory
specific error of boasting in wisdom, might, and riches. So finding our way back to Jeremiah 9, this isn't necessarily just a general maxim. Though it should apply as such, but it's not just a general maxim for the wise men not to glory, the mighty men not to glory, and the rich men not to glory. It's not just a general command given, but there's a specific context and specific commandments being given by God for their conduct in the context.
And three things regarding the specific error of boasting in wisdom, might, and riches. The first is
These Things Will Not Help
these things will not help them in the face of irreversible calamity. Why are they not? Why is the wise man not to glory in wisdom, the mighty man not to glory in strength, and the rich man not to glory in riches? It's because this inevitable judgment, the whirlwind of divine justice is coming, and you cannot stand against it.
Your wisdom, your might, or your strength, and your riches will not avail against certain divine justice. So don't put your confidence in these things. Don't put your confidence in your wisdom, don't put your confidence in your might, and don't put your confidence in your riches, but as we'll see, put your confidence in the living and true God, who delivers, who exercises mercy and loving kindness in the land. So these things will not help them in the face of irreversible calamity.
First off, the rich cannot buy themselves out of the coming day of trouble. You know, it's common in the political machinations throughout history for rich men to engage in the giving of some sort of truth to avert divine justice, to somehow buy their way with silver and gold out of divine justice, hopefully to gain favor with the conquering king in order that their land, their people, might not be destroyed or taken away to Gentile lands in this case. But we must notice here, the rich cannot buy themselves out of the coming day of trouble. Notice Jeremiah 9, 21.
For death has come through our windows, has entered our palaces. Death is coming through the windows and is entering the palaces, the palaces of silver and gold, the palaces containing the treasures of the nation will be plundered. Matthew Henry notes this, death shall ride in triumph and there shall be no escaping his arrests when he comes with commission, neither within doors nor without. not within doors, for let the doors be shut ever so fast, let them be ever so firmly locked and bolted, death comes up into our windows like a thief in the night. It steals upon us ere we are aware.
Nor does it thus boldly attack the cottages only, but it has entered into our palaces, the palaces of our princes and great men, though ever so stately, ever so strongly built and guarded. No palaces can keep out death. So the rich cannot buy themselves out of the coming day of trouble, but also the wise cannot, by political machinations, maneuver Israel out of harm's way. The so-called wise in this context who really are those who are found to be marked by fault and madness because they're prophesying peace and not judgment, like Jeremiah is, because they're advising the political leaders to do such and such against the reality that they're breaking the covenant, they're bringing blind and lame sacrifices, they're following after Baals, they're baking cakes to the queen of heaven.
And in this context, they think that by their wisdom, they might avert divine justice. The wise cannot, by their political movements, maneuver Israel out of harm's way. And also, the strong cannot stand against the set-in-motion whirlwind of divine justice. There are mighty men in the land.
But mighty men, do not glory in your might because you will be destroyed. You will be taken away. All of the mighty men in the passage, and if we read a coordinate passage in 1 Chronicles, all of the mighty men are taken out of the nation, out of Jerusalem, and only some of the poor remain in the city. And so mighty men, don't rest upon your strength that you can perhaps prowess outwit Nebuchadnezzar, his cronies, and the nation of Babylon?
Because you will be destroyed, you will be defeated. Seek rather the Lord and the knowledge and the understanding of Him. All these things will be taken away. It's another thing, another point regarding the specific error of boasting in wisdom, might, and riches in this context, is because
All These Things Will Be Taken
all of these things are going to be taken away. Turn with me to 2 Kings for a moment. There's a passage in 2 Kings that aligns with the conquering of Nebuchadnezzar and the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. In 2 Kings, you can turn to chapter 24. chapter 24 and verse 13.
And he carried out from there, now notice that we're talking about all these things being taken away, wisdom, might, and specifically riches. And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house. And he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. Also, he carried into captivity all Jerusalem, all the captains, and all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths.
None remained except the poorest of the land, the poorest people of the land. And he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon, the king's mother, the king's wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. So do you see in the specific context here? Why the wise the rich and the strong are not to glory are not to be found with vainglorious Attachment to these things because all of them will be taken away notice that last that last point is He carried Jehoiakim captive to Babylon, the king's mother, the king's wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
So, the mighty man, do not glory in your might, because you will be taken away, but rather glory in the Lord. And then lastly, under the specific error, this activity of wise men glorying or boasting in wisdom, mighty men glorying or boasting in their strength, and rich men glorying or boasting in their riches is
Set Against the Knowledge of God
set against the knowledge of God and heeding his word. It's set against that, it is in contrast to that because everywhere and always the Bible sets forth the fact and the blessed fact for the people of God that we are to glory or to boast in God. There's a new covenant or New Testament equal to this particular passage. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's a New Testament match to this particular passage. Different context, but certainly applicable because we are not to glory in anything save for God and His Christ.
The Virtuous Path
Which brings us then secondly at large to the virtuous path. So we have this language in verse 23, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but That wonderful word that comes very often in the Bible to contrast something, to contrast the weak with the strong, or the negative with the positive, or the evil with that which is good. And so here, verse 24, we have, Let him who glories glory in this that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord Exercising loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these I delight Says the Lord so under this topic of the virtuous path. We want to note firstly
True Glorying Is God's Due
true and proper glorying is exclusively God's do There is no one and no thing that is to be the recipient of our glorying or boasting, save God and his Christ. It is in God that we glory. It is in God that we boast. It is in not only God himself, but also that which he does. both God and His blessed works.
We are to glory alone in God. True and proper glorying is exclusively God's due. You can turn with me to 1 Chronicles for a moment, another passage. I know a lot of Bible flipping, but hopefully that's a good thing for you.
In 1 Corinthians 29 at verse 10, True and proper glory glorying is exclusively God's do that's hard to say. First Chronicles 29 verse 10. Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly and David said blessed are you Lord God of Israel our father forever and ever. Yours oh Lord is the greatness the power and the glory, the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in heaven and in earth is yours.
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you reign over all. In your hand is power and might, in your hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all." You see how that passage connects to what we're talking about with the casting off of vainglory and walking the virtuous path of understanding and knowing God? Both riches and honor, God, come from you.
Both power and might, Lord God, are in your hand. In your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. So a resignation to that blessed fact that true and proper glorying is exclusively God's due. You can also turn with me to Revelation 4.9.
The book of Revelation, chapter 4. On this topic of true and proper glorying being exclusively God's due, notice in Revelation 4 at verse 9, whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." Also, Revelation 5 at verse 11, then I looked and I heard, the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain, now notice, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. It is a vainglorious pursuit to seek after, or to rather, self-sufficiently boast in your own power, your own riches, and your own wisdom. exclusively, these are the things that God himself owns, and that the Christ is marked by.
Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. If we are to boast in wisdom, and if we are to boast in riches, and if we are to boast in power, it's not in the fact that we may have them, but in the fact that Christ has them perfectly, and that it is he who is worthy to have those things, and to dispense the riches of His grace and His excellencies upon His people. So true and proper glorying is exclusively God's due. Secondly, under the virtuous path, we want to note the
The General Necessity of Knowing God
general necessity of the knowledge of God. The general necessity of the knowledge of God. God simply says, through the prophet Jeremiah, in verse 24 of chapter 9, But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me. What does that mean?
And hopefully this doesn't blow you away as so insightful. It means that we're to understand and know him. He gives us the commandment that we might know our God. You know, as Christians, we're not simply, we don't come by grace through faith in Christ to know God and then leave knowledge at the point of our conversion and then just sort of walk about and wander the path of Christianity.
Never learning and never growing in the knowledge of God and in the understanding of him, you know, imagine imagine using the using a An analogy of marriage, you know you you get to girls ladies you get to you know to know your husband You you marry him and then after that you say, you know what? I really don't want to learn anything more about you. Let's just go about our relationship and In ignorance not growing in in in the knowledge and in the intimacy of growing in that relationship We would never do that. So why is it perhaps in Christianity that there's a there's almost at large a jettisoning of growth in the knowledge of God and somehow just an emotional basking in experience and and those sorts of things and We are to ever and always be the students of the Most High.
We are to ever and always be those who learn of our God. What a blessed subject! Calvin says, the knowledge of God does not rest in cold speculation, but carries with it the honoring of Him. In knowing and in understanding God, we are honoring Him.
What better subject on the face of the earth, in heaven and on earth, is there than the triune God of heaven and earth? What better subject matter do we have? What more joyful topic can we think about and contemplate and grow in than the knowledge of the one who created us, the knowledge of the one who upholds and sustains us, who gives us life, breath, and all things, and in the knowledge of the one who brought us forth from darkness to light in Jesus Christ our Savior? There is no greater subject.
The knowledge of God does not rest in cold speculation. That's something that's important to remark. You know, when we come to the study of God, we are not to coldly and detachedly study him as if we had some beakers and microscopes and we just simply dryly or coldly investigate a subject and a subject matter. But rather, it comes with the honoring of him.
We come humbly and in rejoicing to the throne of grace as we study such a blessed one and such a blessed subject. We have this general necessity of knowing God. Spurgeon writes this regarding this topic. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the deity.
And whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory, eminently consolatory. Oh, there is in contemplating Christ a balm for every wound. In musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief. And in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore.
Would you lose your sorrows Would you drown your cares? Then go plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea. Be lost in his immensity, and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul, so calm the swelling billows of grief and sorrow, so speak peace to the winds of trial as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.
Hopefully that encourages us as we go about our Christian wanderings on this lower earth, to encourage us in the knowledge of God, that we might stir ourselves up from a dryness, a coldness, that we might stir ourselves up from an inactivity, from focusing on so many other things, to the exclusion or to the sacrifice of focusing upon God and growth in the knowledge of him Understanding that there is one only living and true God Understanding that this blessed divine and infinite being exists eternally as father son and Holy Spirit That he is not beholden to any man. He doesn't stand in need of any creature, which he hath made nor I've any glory from them but rather manifests his them, that he is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all of his glorious perfections. He is unbounded in his eternity, unbounded in his perfections. He is a most pure spirit.
He is impassable, immutable, simple, glorious in his eternity, and glorious in his perfections, a knowledge of the one and only living and true God who exists eternally as Father, Son, Holy Spirit notice if you go back to Jeremiah the lack of the knowledge of God is in view also in this judgment that is coming and in this call Jeremiah chapter 2 In Jeremiah chapter 2 notice at verse 8 Jeremiah 2 8 8 the priests did not say where is the Lord and those who handle the law did not know me and The rulers also transgressed against me, the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit." There's a big point there, walking after things that do not profit. That prohibitive warning that was issued in verse 23 has that in view. There are things that do not profit you. Nation of Israel in the wave in the whirlwind of coming justice wisdom might and riches will not avail will not profit you but the knowledge of God and Understanding him will be of much eternal profit notice also in Jeremiah 9 before the passages before verse 11 that we started reading notice in Jeremiah 9 at verse 3 regarding the knowledge of God and Jeremiah 9 verse 3, and like their bow, they have bent their tongues for lies.
They are not valiant for the truth on earth, for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the Lord. And then also verse 6, your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit. Through deceit, they refuse to know me, says the Lord. The knowledge of God is of eternal profit, and that is what will avail in the day of trouble, that you understand and that you know God, because that is the most blessed knowledge, the most blessed posture, and He is the most blessed topic on heaven and earth.
Hosea 4.1 reads, Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land. There is not truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. And that is why justice came, that is why the whirlwind of divine judgment came, And the call is for there to be truth, for there to be mercy, and for there to be the knowledge of God in the land. And Pastor Butler hasn't got that got there yet.
But in John chapter 17, there's something of a New Testament equivalent to this particular mandate, this blessed mandate to know our God. And in fact, it's linked, and you'll know this passage because it's cited a lot. It's linked to eternal life. It's linked to salvation.
Notice it, verse 1 of John 17. If you haven't turned there yet, you can simply listen. Jesus spoke these words and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your son, that your son may also glorify you. As you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.
And now notice verse three, and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. There's a blessed maxim that the Lord Christ gives here in his prayer, according to his humanity, to the Father. He says that eternal life is this, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So finding our way back to Jeremiah 9, I want to say something so that you understand that this command to understand and know God, given almost 600 years prior to the coming of Christ in his incarnation, is not given as a Christless call to understand and know God.
That Jeremiah is operating within the context and by the God who informs him prophetically of the context, but Jeremiah in the context that there is a promise Messiah will come. So as you read the Old Testament, we don't read it in a Christless fashion, but we read it knowing that there is a governing promise at the outset of divine revelation in Genesis that a hero born of woman will crush the serpent with his heel. And so Jeremiah giving this promise 600 years before, or giving this command 600 years prior to the coming of Christ in his incarnation, operating according to that promise because later say that there is one coming the who will bring judgment and justification to the people of the earth And so we must link these two passages, John 17 and Jeremiah 9 24, as the blessed call to know God and his Christ. So the general necessity of the knowledge of God, we wanna notice as well as we move towards a close, the
Knowledge of God in Calamity
specific necessity of the knowledge of God in the face of inevitable calamity. Let's just say that one more time, the specific necessity of the knowledge of God in the face of inevitable calamity. Because remember, this command, or, well, yes, this command, let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, comes, again, within the context of this coming inevitable calamity. Notice in Daniel 9, if you can turn there with me, I know I said a lot of Bible turning, And it continues.
Daniel chapter 9 at verse 13. On this topic of the specific necessity of the knowledge of God in the face of inevitable calamity. Notice in Daniel 9 at verse 13. Daniel 9, 13, as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us.
Yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth. Therefore, the Lord has kept the disaster in mind and brought it upon us For the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which he does, though we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord your God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made yourself a name as it is this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. So, the knowledge of God is to be sought after in our context because of this coming calamity.
It is only in the knowledge of God, in His blessedness, that there is refuge and safety. They were to understand that the only wisdom that avails is that which has God as the ground and content. You see, this vainglorying in wisdom by the wise wasn't the wisdom of God and the knowledge of Him as if they're boasting in their knowledge of God, but rather it's boasting in their iniquity in following after the Baals, boasting in their wisdom as if they can overcome or buy off against the certainty of divine justice. And so they were to understand that the only wisdom that avails is that which has God as the ground and content.
They were to understand that the only abiding strength comes from the God who is to be understood and known. So they're not to boast in their own strength, but much rather, and again, they're to boast in the abiding strength that comes from God, that one, that blessed one, who is to be understood and known. Notice in Ephesians chapter three, You can turn there with me if you're unable to or you don't want to. You can listen as I read from Ephesians 3.
But on this point of boasting not in your own strength, but in that which is afforded by God, the one who is to be understood and known, Ephesians 3.14. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, notice that word, riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." If you notice while we're reading there, wisdom, strength, and riches are all touched upon in this particular passage. And it's not boasting, it's not vainglorious boasting in yourself as being self-sustained by those things, or an overconfidence and excessive confidence and boast in those things, but it's a pleading that God would grant these things to you according to His will. and according to the perfection of His purpose. They were to understand as well that the only riches are found in the knowledge of God and of His Christ.
Those are the only riches to be found, to be boasted in, to glory in those riches that come by the knowledge of God and His Christ. There's a wonderful passage in 1 Peter that speaks to the riches, to the excellencies, this language that Jeremiah uses. People are to cast off vain glory in these things and to understand that proper wisdom riches and strength come from God. In 1 Peter 1 at verse 17, you'll notice similar language here.
Excuse me, chapter 1, verse 17. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." You see that language of riches? Our redemption does not come by riches, but rather it comes by the redemption afforded by Christ, by the riches of his sacrifice, by the riches of his blessed work. They were to understand that eternal riches are found in the knowledge of God and of his Christ.
Calvin writes, Speaking of these people in Jeremiah 9 But as they irrigate to themselves that means to him to assume to oneself more than is justified But as they irrigate to themselves more than what is right and even inebriate that is drunken themselves with delusions He God strips them naked that after having known that all they think they have Either from nature or from themselves or from other creatures is a mere phantom that they may seek true glory You see, that's what's going on in Jeremiah 9. God is stripping them naked so that they might understand that true glory is only in God. We are to seek true glory, not that which comes in the vanity of wisdom so-called, not that which comes by our own strength and self-sufficiency, and not that which comes by the boasting and riches. And
The Veracious Contemplation
lastly, it will close with this particular point, the voracious contemplation. So if you find your way back to Jeremiah 9, notice the voracious simply means speaking or representing the truth. Not V-O-R, but V-E-R, voracious. So the voracious contemplation comes after 24B.
Notice though verse 24 of Jeremiah 9 but let him who glories glory in this that he understands and knows me that there's this that Transition or this that link to certain blessings or works of God that I am the Lord exercising loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these I delight says the Lord They were they in understanding and knowing God they were to know what are the specific contemplations to fill their minds with what are the specific contemplations that we are to fill our minds with an Understanding of the knowledge of God we are to understand and know him who he is And then what he does that he is the Lord exercising loving-kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth one One point here is that we have the identification of the only true God this saying shouldn't be passed over That I am the Lord What God is saying when he says that in his word is that he is God to the exclusion of all others. That these Baals that draw your affection, the Queen of Heaven that draws your affection to bake cakes, all of these gods of the Gentiles are nothing. There is one God, the one and only living and true God, the God of Israel, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So he wants them to know that he is the Lord.
He is one in his simplicity, and he is one in his singularity. He is one in such a way that there could be no other. And so affections are not to be poured upon other deities, upon other things, but rather glorying is to be in him who is the Lord alone. Also, we have this recognition of loving kindness.
Notice what we have here. I am the Lord exercising loving-kindness. So this whirlwind of judgment is coming, yet in the midst of it, those who by grace, through faith, understand and know God, there is the great blessing of loving-kindness. The God of heaven and earth will be their refuge, their safety, their balm against the sores of divine justice.
Also the acknowledgement of his perfect government notice I am the Lord exercising loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these I delight He exercises justice and judgment. John Calvin writes on this point, when these two words are joined together, they denote perfect government. That is, that God defends his faithful people, aids the miserable, and delivers them when unjustly oppressed. And also that he restrains the wicked and suffers them not to injure the innocent at their pleasure.
These then are the things which the scripture everywhere means by the two words. judgment and justice, or judgment and righteousness. The justice of God is not to be taken according to what is commonly understood by it, and they speak incorrectly who represent God's justice as in opposition to his mercy. Hence the common proverb, I appeal from justice to mercy. The scripture speaks otherwise, for justice is to be taken for that faithful protection by God, by which he defends and preserves his own people, and judgment for the rigor which he exercises against the transgression of his law.
So,
Application
in closing, I think, not I think, what we need to take from this, hopefully, is first and foremost that we are to be marked by those who understand and know God. we are to grow in our knowledge of God. A.W. Pink has a long extended quote, if anyone wants it, I can email it to you, but it's a commentary on the common landscape of Christianity in his time, and I think it certainly applies today. with regards to the modern church and the difference of the commonly preached God and the God of the Holy Bible. And he says something like this, that the God of the church today, compared to the God of the Holy Scripture, is like a dim flickering candle compared to the glory of the midday sun. in our context where God, where the knowledge of God is sort of set aside for experiential and emotional things, where the stirring up is not unto growth and knowledge, but just unto some sort of ecstasy and religious experience.
We are to be such who joyfully, cheerfully, and earnestly learn about our God, the one who created us, the one who sustains us, and the one who redeems us by the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice in Him and learn who He is. Rejoice in Him and learn what He does, that He is the Lord, that He exercises loving kindness, justice, and judgment in the earth. If you're here this morning and you aren't a believer, believe on this God, understand and know Him.
We pray that by grace through faith in Christ you would come to knowledge of such a blessed one who is the refuge and the strength and the tower for his people, who even in the midst of the whirlwind of justice and judgment protects those who are his, and according to his promise, judges his enemies. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because only in him is there true wisdom, only in him is there true strength, and only in him is there true riches and that eternally. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We rejoice in your goodness to us in revealing that we are to seek after the knowledge of you. We thank you for those this morning who believe in his holy name that you have by grace through faith brought us to a knowledge of you. You have saved us by the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray that we would seek to understand and know you and to grow in the knowledge of our blessed creator, sustainer, and redeemer. We pray for those outside of Christ this morning that entered these two doors in unbelief. We pray, Lord God, that now, by your word and spirit, you would bring them forth from amazing and victorious grace, from the darkness of sin, to life and light in Christ Jesus. And because it is possible only with you that each and every tongue would leave these two doors singing the praises of our blessed Christ, redeeming King.
And it's in His name that we pray. Amen. Well, you can stand with me and sing the doxology. It's 568 in your hymn books.
That's 568. We'll stand and we'll sing together. ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise Him above the heavens and the earth ♪ Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory, forever and ever. Amen. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would go with us now.
Be with us as we go about the rest of this Lord's Day. Help us to understand and know you. Help us to glory in salvation by so blessed a Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice in the forgiveness of sins and a righteousness, not our own, but that of Christ that avails with you.
We do pray that you'd be with us now. Help us to honor your day, to honor your name. And we pray, Lord God, that you would receive all the glory. We pray in Jesus Christ's name, amen.