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You can turn in your Bibles back 
to Jeremiah chapter 9. We continue our look at the text 
in Jeremiah 9, specifically verses 23 and 24. We read the entirety of the passage 
this morning just to introduce some of what was going on there, 
as we'll only read verses 23 and 24 this evening. But in verse 
11, we see the announcement of the certainty of judgment. given 
by the prophet, God is most certainly following through with his promise 
that if Israel broke his covenant, if they were disobedient, he 
would visit them with the curses of the covenant. We see the ignorance 
of the nation in verse 12. They did not know the word of 
the Lord. They did not know what was spoken by his mouth. We see 
the reason for judgment explained in verse 13 and in verse 14. And then what follows from verse 
15 all the way down to verse 22 is an expansion upon the coming 
judgment, an announcement that God would feed the nation of 
Israel with wormwood, give them gall to drink. He asks them to 
call for the mourning women, for the wailing women to come 
and sing the lamentations of judgment, the lamentations of 
destruction. He closes by saying in verse 
23, speak thus says the Lord. Even the carcasses of men shall 
fall as refuge on the open field, like cuttings after the harvester, 
and no one shall gather them. And now we'll read our text, 
verse 23 and verse 24. 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 loving kindness, judgment 
and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says 
the Lord. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, 
we thank you for this text of Holy Scripture. We thank you 
for the clarity and what it discloses to us. We pray that you would 
help us again now by your spirit and for your glory to apprehend 
with great joy your revelation. We pray that you would illuminate 
our minds by your spirit, that we might know the more the things 
revealed by you to us in your word. We do pray that you would 
help us by this exercise of worship to go into this upcoming week 
conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. 
We do pray that all that we do now would be done unto the praise 
of your glorious grace. And once again, we pray in the 
name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, if 
you were here this morning, and even if you weren't here, we'll 
rehearse what we covered this morning. going through a threefold 
examination of Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24. And that threefold examination 
came by way of the following phrase, the vainglory, the virtue, 
and the verity. And we noted that that can be 
further elaborated upon by noting first that there is a prohibitive 
warning issued in verse 23. The vain glory seen is that there 
were those who were wise, glorying in their wisdom, strong, glorying 
in their strength, and rich, glorying in their riches. And 
this prohibitive warning is given. And we noted among many things 
that the reason it is given is because these things will not 
help them in the day of calamity. The wisdom of the wise, or wisdom 
so-called, that which was gloried in by the wise, this will not 
help them in the day of trouble. The strength of mighty men will 
not help them in the day of trouble, and the riches of the rich men 
will not help them. Why? Because all of these things 
are going to be taken away. We read the narrative in 2 Kings 
24, Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian cronies, who had it put in their 
hearts by the sovereign God to come and bring recompense upon 
Israel for its apostate and disobedient condition. They come and they 
take the wise men away. They take and they conquer the 
mighty men and they take them away. They take the rich men 
and their riches and they take those things away. So the vainglory 
is seen in the fact that these things will be taken away and 
ultimately that they really have no infinite worth in and of themselves, 
do they? But rather and exclusively glorying 
and boasting is to be in the Lord alone. So we only looked 
at the vainglory this morning, which again is seen in the Excessive 
pride in these hollow and empty things. And now we move on to 
the virtue and the verity. So what is the virtue? Well, 
we find it in verse 24. If the bad thing. If the vainglorious 
thing is seen in glorying and boasting and wisdom, strength 
and riches, then what is the good thing? What is the holy 
thing? What is the thing that is not 
hollow, but is full? What is the thing that is not 
empty, but is full? What is the thing that is not 
valueless, but full of value? Well, it is given to us in this 
here in verse 24. But let him who glories glory 
in this. that He understands and knows 
me. This is the virtue. And when 
we say virtue, we're not saying something that finds its virtuousness 
in the person wherein it is represented, but rather God telling man what 
is the good thing, what it is that He is to do. Remember, the 
prohibitive warning issued comes in the flavor of what not to 
do. Prescriptive counsel, which is verse 24a, is what to do very 
simply. And what are they to do? Well, 
negatively and again, they're not to glory in wisdom, might 
and riches, but rather, verse 24a, let him who glories glory 
in this, that he understands and knows me. Calvin says to 
know God is the chief part of perfect wisdom. You see, this 
verse 24a is a remedy to verse 23. Calvin is exactly right to 
know God is the chief part of perfect wisdom. You see, the 
wise glorying in their wisdom runs in the face of or rails 
against glorying in God because it is the knowledge of God wherein 
there is perfect wisdom. We want to look, though, at the 
virtue under three headings, the virtue here under three considerations. True and proper glorying is exclusively 
God's due. True and proper glorying is exclusively 
God's due. It is not due unto anyone else 
or anything else, but rather to God alone. Why would we say 
that? Well, because of him and through 
him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. You can turn with me to 
the book of First Chronicles in chapter 29 for a moment. Notice 
what we find there. We find that from God comes all 
things. To whom should we go or in whom 
should we glory? Well, we should glory in the 
one who has all things in his sovereign power and who dispenses 
all things according to the good pleasure of his will. Notice 
this comes from the lips of David as he's looking forward to the 
kingship of his son, Solomon, and as he's looking forward to 
the building of the temple that would not take place under his 
kingship, but under his son's. 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, O 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. Hopefully for all of you who 
are here this morning, your minds are working here and you see 
how this rubs against the disposition of these that are the recipients 
of Jeremiah's warning. It is God who has in his hands, 
in his greatness, power and glory, victory and majesty. All that 
is in heaven and earth is his. And it is in his good pleasure, 
in his own timing, and according to his own prerogative, That 
riches in honor come out to those who dwell upon the earth. You 
reign over all, David declares. In your hand is power and might. 
In your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 
So you see the folly in one who is great, one who is strong, 
boasting in their greatness and in their strength. Because it 
is God who is to have his due. He is to be given all glory and 
all honor because it is in his hand to make great. to give strength, 
to give riches, to give wisdom. True and proper glorying is exclusively 
God's due. If you were, or if we were, to 
do a survey of the doxologies, those formal collections of praise 
given by authors to God through the scriptures, if we were to 
analyze these, what we would find is that time and again, 
and you can turn to 1 Timothy, time and again we see that this 
is brought forth, that true and proper glorying is exclusively 
God's due. Notice in 1 Timothy, one of many, 
only one of many doxologies given to God in the scriptures, we 
see something that is striking. 1 Timothy 1 and verse 17. Notice what we find there. Now 
to the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, To God, who alone 
is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. You see, if we 
were to just fast forward through this doxology, we might throw 
out a customary and a complimentary, yeah, that's great. Our God is 
great. But we need to dive into the 
truths that are here, because first off, we're confronted with 
the fact that He is a King eternal. You see, Nebuchadnezzar would 
boast, remember, in Daniel, in chapter 4, That am I not Nebuchadnezzar, 
the great one of Babylon who has heaped to himself by his 
own power and strength all of these riches, this kingdom, the 
mighty palaces, all of these things? I'm paraphrasing, of 
course. But you see, his mindset and his disposition was that 
I did all of this by my cunning military might, by my power, 
and by my strength. But you see, he was brought low, 
wasn't he, by our God. Seven times he was put down to 
eat the grass of the earth, to have his nose in the dust, to 
be laid low, that he might be brought out of that lowliness 
to render true glory, not to himself again, but to the living 
and true God, because it is he who rules in the heavens, in 
the earth, in the sea, and in all deep places. He is not, Nebuchadnezzar 
is not an eternal king. There is only one. The Lord God 
Almighty, He is King, eternal. He is immortal. But wait, you 
say, men and angels are immortal, aren't they? Well, you see, Timothy 
would later in the doxology in 1 Timothy 6 write, who alone 
has immortality dwelling in unapproachable light? God truly and really is 
the only one who has immortality in and of himself originally. 
Essentially and not by derivation like men and angels. He is the 
one who alone has immortality. He is invisible. Unlike unlike 
men. He is invisible. He cannot be 
seen. He is nowhere to be found, and 
yet He is everywhere, filling the heavens and the earth. He 
cannot be confined locally in a place like men. He cannot be 
circumscribed by time and space. He cannot, and He is not, definitively 
present anywhere, like the angels. But rather, He is repletively, 
unconfined. filling the heavens and the earth. 
His essence is immediately present to every part in the created 
order. The Lord our God is invisible 
to God who alone is wise. You'd say, well, there's some 
who have wisdom. I mean, yeah, I got a little bit of wisdom, 
don't I? I know some stuff. I'm not talking about me. I'm 
saying, you know, people, we can say that. We can say, yeah, 
you know, I've got some learnings. I know some things. I've read 
a few books. But you see, it is only God who, in and of Himself, 
not has wisdom, but is wisdom. It's not a property that He has, 
a quality that He has, but rather He is identical with His wisdom. 
If there is God, then He is also wisdom. And unlike men and unlike 
angels, He doesn't have wisdom by deriving it from another. 
He doesn't discursively learn, but rather He knows by virtue 
of being God. He is alone wise. And it is right 
then that Paul, I think I said Timothy writes later. I meant 
Paul writes to Timothy later. It is right that Paul then closes 
it here by saying, to God be honor and glory forever and ever. 
Amen. You see, because true and proper 
glorying is exclusively God's do. And the doxologies are a 
witness to this fact. If we go to the book of Revelation 
and let's do that, then what do we find there? Well, we find 
that glorying, boasting, is to be unto God, not unto men, not 
unto things, but rather for God's sake alone. Notice in Revelation 
4, we see God praised for the fact of His creation. Why is 
God to receive exclusive glory? Well, it is because He has created 
all things. Notice Revelation 9, whenever 
the living, excuse me, 4.9, 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, 
oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for you created 
all things and by your will they exist and were created. You notice 
what the rich do, if we can Use that language. These who have 
crowns, they don't grip them with white knuckle grips saying, 
these are ours and I'm going to glory in my crowns, but rather 
they cast them before the throne, rendering them, if you will, 
as gifts, as offerings before the one who is infinite, eternal, 
and unchangeable in all his perfection saying, you are worthy, oh Lord, 
to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things 
and by your will they exist and were created. The madness and 
the folly, again, of the nation of Israel having been chosen 
by God. Remember we read in Deuteronomy 
7, God saying, I did not choose you because you were the greatest 
among the nations of the world, but rather I set my love upon 
you and I chose you. He redeems them from out of bondage 
in Egypt. He puts them into, he places 
them in the promised land after the wilderness wanderings. Time 
and again, they rebel against him. And yet he redeems them. He brings them from out of the 
madness and folly of following after other gods. He brings them 
from out of bondage to the pagan nations around them. But again, 
they fall away. They fall back. And time and 
again, what do they do? Well, they do not give glory 
to the Lord God. They do not give to God glory 
and honor and power. They do not ascribe to him glory 
and honor and power, but rather what do they do? They throw their 
babies into the arms of a statue who has a fire burning at his 
feet. They follow after the bales. They follow after the pagan deities. 
After the God of so much glory condescends to pour out his mercy 
and his grace and his love upon them. True and proper glorying 
is exclusively God's due, and of course we have Not only God 
here praised for creation, but Christ, the God-man, praised 
for redemption. Revelation 5, 9. You are worthy 
to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain 
and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe 
and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests 
to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. And then, reminder 
of what we read this morning, worthy is the lamb who was slain 
to receive power. and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honor, and blessing. You see the madness of people 
boasting in wisdom, and strength, and riches in their own. They are to render unto the Lamb, 
unto God, unto the Son of God in this particular text. He is 
the one who is to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honor, and glory, and blessing. So the virtue is seen in We read 
in Jeremiah 9, 24, the remedy to the vain glory of apostate 
Israel. When we read, but let him who 
glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me. We 
are to get that true and proper glorying is exclusively God's 
due. And secondly, under the virtue, 
the general necessity of the knowledge of God. the general 
necessity of the knowledge of God, we ought to get very clearly 
from this text that we are to understand and know God. It is 
the stuff of vainglorious pursuits to endeavor after every other 
understanding and knowledge save for that which God sets before 
the nation of Israel here and before our eyes as that which 
is to be exclusive, the understanding and the knowledge of Him. It 
is, again, a vainglorious pursuit to seek after all other things 
to the exclusion and to the sacrifice of the King of Kings and the 
Lord of Lords. The general necessity of the knowledge of God. Listen 
to what Spurgeon says at the point of knowing God, the knowledge 
of God. 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. The most excellent 
study for expanding the soul is the science of Christ and 
Him crucified and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious 
Trinity. You see, young and old here tonight, 
why do you bother yourself with so many vainglorious pursuits 
and not give one second, one minute to the living and true 
God? You occupy your day with so many things And yet you never 
occupy your day with a contemplation of the glorious Trinity, contemplation 
of the Son of God, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, and 
His perfections, just like Father and Spirit, coming in the fullness 
of the times, taking to Himself man's nature, with all the common 
properties and infirmities thereof, yet without sin, marching to 
the cross to die for sinners, to rise again, What a glorious 
God and what a glorious Christ. And yet, as Spurgeon says, we 
heap to ourselves poisonous weeds and we let the rose of Sharon 
wither. The general necessity, the knowledge 
of God. Calvin says to highlight the 
reality that you see the The pursuit of the understanding 
and knowledge of God is not found in cold speculation and dry theology. Theology that is dry, let it 
never be the case, because biblical theology is not dry, it is glorious. It's the stuff that causes the 
heart to leap and to sink. We ought to know more of our 
God. Calvin, on this, writes, the knowledge of God does not 
rest in cold speculation, but carries with it the honoring 
of Him. Is not this the chief sin? of the Israelites here in 
the book of Jeremiah. Not only did they not have a 
knowledge of God, but in the rejection of the knowledge of 
God, they certainly weren't honoring him, were they? Notice what we 
find in Jeremiah 2 and verse 8. You can find your way back 
there. You see, one of the chief issues 
at the heart of the matter, apostate Israel, is lack of the knowledge 
of God. Jeremiah 2 and verse 8, the priests 
did not say, Where is the Lord? And those who handle the law 
did not know me. The rulers also transgressed 
against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal 
and walked after things that do not profit. Jeremiah 9, the 
very text that we're reading from, yet in a section that we 
did not read from, notice in Jeremiah 9 in verse 3, And like 
their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not 
valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from 
evil to evil, and they do not know Me, says the Lord. And verse 
6 of chapter 9, Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit. 
Through deceit they refuse to know Me, says the Lord. You see, 
the knowledge of the Lord comes with the honoring of Him. If 
we are to honor God, if you want to honor God, and of course we 
hope and pray that you do, You are to understand and you are 
to know him. And in so doing, you bring honor 
to God. We are to know God. We are not 
to confess Christian theism and then at the same time, abandon 
ourselves to a functional or an academic agnosticism. What do I mean by that? Well, 
we profess Christian theism. Yes, you know, there's a God, 
I believe, and this triune God that the church speaks of. But 
I don't want to be bothered by a pursuit of knowledge. Isn't 
that the stuff for the ivory tower theologians? Or I just 
really don't have time. You see, that is really to confess 
Christian theism in one breath, but then in the next breath to 
confess an academic agnosticism, I really don't need to know. 
If you say you confess God, if you say you confess Christ, then 
you are. to understand and know that God 
and his Christ. This is eternal life. Christ 
prayed to the father. That they may know thee the only 
true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. You see that 
the sweetest science, the noblest science is the school which has 
as its focus the doctrine of the triune God and the Christ 
of saving and perfect redemption. What school do you go to? Do 
you go to the school of the earth, the school of the world, keeping 
to yourself everything else save for the triune God and His Christ 
and Him crucified? We are not to confess Christian 
theism, but then be marked by a functional and academic agnosticism, 
abandoning ourselves to mystery, forsaking growth in the knowledge 
of God and using incomprehensibility as a pious veil to hide behind. to ignore a knowledge and learning 
of the Triune God. You see, this is very often, 
when we studied the doctrine of God a number of months ago 
in our morning Bible studies, we noted that Deuteronomy 29.29 
isn't to be used as an escape hatch from theological learning. You know, those things, the secret 
things are for the Lord, but those things that are revealed 
are for us and his children. You know, oh, the secret things. 
We shouldn't pursue a knowledge of the incomprehensible God. 
Can't we just rest in the mystery of this immense deity who is 
one in three and leave it at that? No, God calls us to understand 
and know him. Hopefully that's clear from this 
text, brothers and sisters, and hopefully you never use Deuteronomy 
29, 29 to escape theological learning. Let him who glories, 
glory in this, that he understands and knows me. Mental laziness 
needs to be jettisoned from our Christian activity. Proper wisdom 
in the knowledge of God is what we are to pursue. You see, in 
the knowledge, in the understanding and knowing of God that God calls 
his people to glory in, we have an answer to the wisdom, the 
strength and the riches that these people were glorying in. 
Notice if you turn with me to Psalm 111. Psalm 111, and hopefully 
these things don't come as new things to your ears, but helpful 
reminders and guides as you go into this week, hopefully seeking 
to endeavor to know the Trinity. Psalm 111 and verse 10, the fear 
of the Lord is what? The beginning of wisdom. A good 
understanding have all those who do his commandments and praise 
his praise endures forever. You see, the fear of the Lord 
is the beginning of wisdom. If you don't fear the Lord tonight, 
you are not wise. You may be in your own eyes, 
but you are the biggest fools on the face of the earth. The 
fool has said in his heart, there is no God. The one who owns the 
God of the scriptures, the only living and true God is the one 
who is truly marked by wisdom. Everlasting life is in the knowledge 
of God, isn't it? When we consider the general 
necessity of the knowledge of God, wisdom only comes from a 
knowledge of Him. And secondly, everlasting life 
in the knowledge of God. Remember, again, those words 
of Christ in His high priestly prayer. This is eternal life. 
They might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom 
thou hast sent. And a proper humility is in the 
knowledge of God. If you're not still in the book 
of Psalms, You don't need to go there, but in Psalm 100 and 
verse 3, know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who has made 
us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep 
of His pasture. You see, a true knowledge of 
God brings to the soul of the Christian a proper and a requisite 
humility because it is God who is the Lord and not men. And thirdly, under the virtue, 
we have the specific necessity of the knowledge of God in the 
face of inevitable calamity. You see, and remember what Jeremiah 
9, 23, 24, how it comes delivered to us is with those bookends 
of the certainty, the inevitability of judgment. 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. Behold, 
verse 25, 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. So 
judgment is coming. You see, these thought that they 
had the Shekinah glory of God resting upon them like that Jewish 
proverbial phrase that the Shekinah glory dwells only on those who 
are wise and strong and rich. You see, God comes and rails 
against that mad proverb saying, let him who glories glory in 
this, that he understands and knows me. So judgment is coming. 
It is inevitable. And in the midst of judgment, 
what will be your hope? What will be your strength? What 
will be your refuge? Whether you're killed by Nebuchadnezzar 
and his cronies or whether you're taken away, whether you're left, 
whatever it may be, your refuge, your strength, your comfort of 
comforts is that you know and you understand the Lord and that 
you are glorying in him by his grace and for his glory. You 
know, it's an application for all of us. For you, you know, 
you're young people out there, when trial hits, and it will, 
maybe you haven't, you know, you haven't bumped up against 
trial and affliction, whether you're not married or you're 
married, whatever your situation may be, when you are beset by 
trial, by affliction, however, whatever measure of severity 
it comes to you by the hand of God, you see, your hope and your 
anchor is not gonna be Your wisdom. It's not going to be your strength 
and how you think you're able to handle things and the strength 
of your body or the strength of your mind. You're not going 
to be able to buy your way out of a lot of afflictions. You're 
just not. Where is your hope? Where is your anchor? It's to 
know and understand the Lord. It's to find in Him your all 
in all. Trouble comes in your marriage. 
Are you going to rest upon the fairness of your wife or the 
handsomeness of your husband? Are you going to recollect, you 
know, things that are good in your marriage or are you going 
to see the Lord God, the living and true God, as the one who 
has given this one to you? And are you going to see the 
institution that he has given to you, whether you're the husband 
or the wife, as something given from a gracious God who gives 
strength to his people and blesses his people with peace? You're 
a child in the home. Same thing. Whatever comes upon 
you. Your glorying, your boast is 
not to be in the way that you think you're going to be able 
to handle yourselves, but rather you are to rest solely and alone 
upon the only true helper of the helpless, the living and 
true God. So the specific necessity of the knowledge of God in the 
face of inevitable calamity. Notice, if you can turn with 
me to Daniel 9 for a moment. Daniel chapter 9, because there 
we have something that speaks to this. Daniel 9. Verse 13 specifically, 
notice what we see as it is written in the law of Moses. All this 
disaster has come upon us. Just pause for a moment. What 
disaster is he speaking of? Well, what we're reading of prophesied 
in Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldeans, the Babylonians 
are coming to sack, to destroy in accordance with the curses 
of the covenant. And so Daniel is writing, with 
these things having taken place. 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. You see the specific 
necessity of the knowledge of God in the face of inevitable 
calamity. They were to understand that 
the only wisdom that avails is that which has God as the ground 
and content. You see, they were glorying in 
wisdom, but you see, it wasn't wisdom from on high that they 
were glorying in. It was their wisdom so-called, 
what we really call foolishness, the dictates they were following 
of their own minds. And so what they are to do, what 
is to be the case, is that they were to understand the only wisdom 
that avails is that which has God as the ground and content. 
You see, the scriptures come to us and it is God who is the 
ground, the foundation, the giver of it. And he is the content 
of it, isn't he? The triune God, his Christ in 
the glory of salvation by amazing and victorious grace. They were 
to understand that the only abiding strength comes from the God who 
is to be understood and known. You know what's prayed for in 
the book of Ephesians is this very thing. In Ephesians chapter 
3, the Apostle Paul, and I would wager to guess that the stuff 
of Jeremiah 9 would be certainly a constituent part of the background 
of his prayer because notice what we find in Ephesians 3. 
In Ephesians 3, specifically in verse 14, and continuing, 
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, 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. See the very language 
that we're dealing with in our examination of Jeremiah 9, that 
he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to 
be strengthened with might through the Spirit in the inner man. 
You see this, that they were to understand that the only abiding 
strength comes from God who is to be understood and known. He 
is the giver of strength. The One who shatters the cedars 
of Lebanon with the strength of His voice is the One who gives 
strength to His people, who blesses His people with peace. They were 
to understand that the only eternal riches are found in the knowledge 
of God and of His Christ. What do we read with regards 
to Christ and His incarnation by the Apostle Paul? 2 Corinthians 
8 and verse 9. The One, Jesus Christ, who was 
rich, became poor. for our sakes, so that by his 
poverty we might, what, become rich. You see, when we boast 
in earthly riches, when we, it's, it's, you can have a car and 
you can have a boat even, a little, you know, a, a quad to cruise 
around on, you can, you know, have a, a gold watch if you want, 
that's okay. But you see, when riches consume 
you, when it's all about expensive things, when it's all about getting 
the bling, when it's all about getting toys and getting things, 
and you exclude the knowledge of your God? You don't give one 
second, one minute to the Lord God, one hour on any day? He 
is jettisoned from your contemplations and all that occupies your thoughts 
is stuff. You see, these things will perish 
with you. You'll be cast into the lake 
of fire reserved for the devil and his angels. Your treasures 
won't go with you. You won't be able to coddle and 
to pet your You're gold and you won't be able to drive your car 
in hell. You won't be able to take your mad stacks down into 
the pit with you. But rather emptiness. There is 
fullness, though, with Christ. Because he who was rich became 
poor for our sakes, that by virtue of his poverty we might become 
rich. Ephesians 1, if you're still 
in there, if you did turn there with me, notice what we have 
in Ephesians 1 in verse 7. We have the language of riches 
in him. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of 
sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to 
abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. See, it's the riches 
of God's grace that we are to seek after with diligence and 
with fervor. Not the riches of this world, 
but the riches of the Lord, our God, and of his Christ. They were to be resigned to the 
reality of his sovereign majesty and providence. Ultimately, when 
we look at Jeremiah 9, we see that God is calling them to glory 
in this, that they understand and know him. They are to be 
resigned to the reality of his sovereign majesty and providence. 
You see, because he put it into the heart. of Nebuchadnezzar 
and the Babylonians to sack Jerusalem in accordance with the covenant 
curses. They're to understand, oh yeah, 
this our God promised would happen. Perhaps there might have been 
a handful. I don't know. It doesn't read 
that way. There's always a remnant that 
God protects, that God carries on. Perhaps Jeremiah in his proclamation 
had one or two The spiritual children, as we talked about 
this morning in the Bible study hour, those who heard the prophecies, 
those who heard the proclamation of this one, the Lord, our righteousness, 
who would come and save us from our sins, those who heard the 
good word of the Lord, they came to people in the marketplace 
and said, don't you remember the Lord God promised our fathers 
that if we were disobedient, he would take our things from 
us. Those things that he gave us in his condescending grace 
and mercy, he would take them away. if we followed after other 
gods, if we disobeyed him and went to whoring after the deities 
of rock and stone and wood. They would have known that God, 
they would have known or been resigned to the reality of his 
sovereign majesty and providence, that these things are coming 
in accordance with his promise. But wait, there is yet another 
promise. Jeremiah opens up to them. Death 
may come. It's going to come. In fact, 
it is on its way. And it won't be stopped by the 
doors, and it won't be stopped by shut windows, but it'll creep 
through the windows, remember? So whether death comes, whether 
they're stolen away and taken to another nation, whatever happens 
to God's people who glory in the understanding and the knowledge 
of Him, nevertheless, they are safe because they have been preached 
to Christ, and they have been preached salvation. So whatever 
comes upon them, they are safely in the hand of the triune God. Lastly, then, as we look to close, 
well, in fact, before we move on, just a brief quote by Calvin 
on this that hopefully sums all of this up with regards to their 
knowledge of the sovereign plan and providence of God, bringing 
them low by rejecting false and vainglorious boasting and holding 
up before them proper glory. But as they arrogate, speaking 
of the unbelieving Jews, but as they arrogate to themselves 
more than what is right, and even inebriate themselves with 
delusions, he 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. Maybe you're out there today 
and you're not a Christian. You know that you're not. And 
you're here tonight nevertheless. Are you inebriated with delusions 
that there is no God? Or that if there is, he really 
isn't as is preached here in this church and as, you know, 
the Bible opens up. I believe in a God who will just 
wink at sin and look the other way. He'll let me heap up to 
myself riches to follow after the dictates of my own heart. 
And in the end, He'll let me through because I'm a pretty 
good guy. We need to understand, and you 
need to perhaps submit to this reality that you would be made 
low, that you may seek true glory. Know that there is a God, that 
He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures as one that is infinite, 
eternal, and unchangeable in His holiness and justice, who 
cannot look upon sin favorably, You have sinned against this 
glorious God, and yet there is a way of salvation, and He has 
afforded it perfectly in the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lastly, 
we have the verity. The verity. What does this mean? 
Well, remember, if you can find your way back to Jeremiah 9, 
we broke it down. There is a prohibitive warning 
issued, verse 23, let not those warnings that are given Second, 
there is prescriptive counsel given, verse 24a, what they are 
to do. Let him who glories glory in 
this, that he understands and knows me. And then lastly, there 
are attendant truths expressed. In so doing, in understanding 
and knowing me, what are the specific contemplations, the 
specific considerations to fill our minds with? Well, this comes 
as the verity spoken, and it is threefold. Notice verse 24, 
but let him who glories glory in this that he understands and 
knows me for I am the Lord Exercising loving-kindness judgment and 
righteousness in the earth These three verities these truths the 
first of which is the identification of the only true God in None 
in understanding and knowing God they are to know that he 
alone is the Lord He says that I am the Lord. I am. God is the 
only living and true God. He is one in such a way that 
there can be no other. You have been following after 
other gods. Understanding and knowing me 
isn't adding me to your pantheon of deities. It's not adding me 
as either the preferred or the superior deity among a complex 
of other gods. I'm the only living and true 
God. This is the declaration of embryonic Israel, if you will, 
in Deuteronomy 6. The Lord our God, the Lord is 
one. As we move in redemptive history 
and in prophetic history, this is the repeated assertion of 
the prophet Isaiah. The prophet goes about his prophecies 
to an apostate in a disobedient nation. He brings this to bear. 
Time and time again in Isaiah 44 and verse 8, Do not fear, 
nor be afraid. Have I not told you that time 
and declared it? You are my witnesses. Is there 
a God besides me? Indeed, there is no other rock. I know not one. In Isaiah 45, 
we have verse upon verse that speaks to this. Verse 5, I am 
the Lord. There is no other. There is no 
God besides me. I will gird you, though you have 
not known me. They that may know from that 
they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that 
there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no 
other. For thus says the Lord, verse 
18, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth 
and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in 
vain, who formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is no 
other. Why does he need to repeat this 
time and time again? Well, because time and time again. His chosen nation went a-whoring 
after other gods who are no gods at all. And He comes back to 
this reality that He is the only God. He is alone to be feared, 
alone to be gloried in, alone to be worshipped. You see why 
the Lord God always brings, why the authors of Holy Scripture 
always bring this to bear? Who created the heavens, who 
is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established 
it, who did not create it in vain, etc., because these mad 
fools were following after deities who were fashioned by the hands 
of men. Gods and deities whittled out 
of stone and rock and wood, out of the things that God himself 
has created. So you should see an amazing 
truth when God by the prophet says, they have ears. but they 
cannot hear. They have eyes, but they cannot 
see. They have arms, hands, but they 
do not touch and handle. You see, our living and true 
God does not properly have eyes, and yet he sees all things. These 
idols have eyes whittled by men, and yet they see nothing in their 
ignorance, being no gods at all. God doesn't properly have ears. And yet, does he not know all 
things? Does he not hear all things? 
God properly has no arms. And yet, what does he do with 
an outstretched arm? He redeems Israel from out of 
bondage. The Lord, our God, is the only 
living and true God. We see here in Jeremiah 9, the 
recognition of mercy. First, it's the identification 
of the only true God. And secondly, it's the recognition 
of mercy. I am the Lord exercising loving 
kindness. What sort of loving kindness 
would they ever have gotten from deities fashioned from wood and 
stone? I think we know the answer to that. It's no loving kindness 
at all. And yet they follow after them. Yet they sacrifice their 
children to them. God is the Lord exercising loving 
kindness. That was what we rehearsed in 
Psalm 107. You remember the words there. 
What are the words of God's loving kindness that David uses? Well, it's the fact that God's 
mercy is not a mercy that expires, but rather, O give thanks to 
the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. The Lord our God, the creator 
of heaven and earth, again, the one who splinters the cedars 
of Lebanon, is the one who visits his people with mercy, who brings 
it through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Lastly, under the 
verity of the acknowledgement of his perfect government, what 
is one of the attendant truths that God brings to bear when 
he calls his people to understand and know him? Well, the last 
one is his perfect government. Notice, I am the Lord exercising, 
loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth. As 
Calvin notes, when these two things are put together and they 
often are, it denotes, if you will, a double edged sword of 
divine government. You have justice or righteousness, 
which is the positive upholding of the law protection given, 
if you will, to the innocent. And we have judgment, the negative 
side of that two edged sword, recompense, wholesome severity 
visited upon those who would violate his laws and break his 
statutes. I am the Lord, he says, exercising 
loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. He 
protects his own, he judges his enemies. Notice, finally, before 
we have a closing observation and close in prayer, but notice 
something of this in Numbers 14. We talk about a contemplation 
of God's people and understanding and knowing him. that it is to 
be reflection upon his perfect government. Notice in Numbers 
14 and specifically verse 18, the Lord is long suffering and 
abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression. But 
he by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the 
fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation. 
Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness 
of your mercy, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt, 
even until now. There's something that we are 
to reflect upon in closing, and a knowledge and an understanding, 
the knowledge of God and the understanding of God. Remember 
what we touched upon this morning, the certainty of God's promises. Oh, it's always an exercise of 
the Christian. It's always an exercise within 
Any body or assembly that flies the banner of Christianity to 
reflect upon the positive promises of God, isn't it? Oh, let's spend 
time upon His mercy, upon the certainty of those positive promises. You see, if you're here and you're 
outside of Christ today, or even if you're inside of Christ, know 
this, that God is sure to those negative promises as well. He 
will most certainly judge the wicked. His unchanging nature, 
His immutability, His impassibility is seen in the fact that He doesn't 
change when He makes a promise. Whether it is for the good, the 
salvific good of those who find mercy and grace, or whether it 
is judgment, holiness visited, the wholesome severity of God 
in bringing judgment upon those who would reject such a God and 
reject such a Christ. We need to understand and know 
God, and that is as well a boon to the soul. You see, both promises 
are boons to the soul of the believer. The good promises warm 
our hearts with the mercy and the grace of God extended to 
us through Christ Jesus, the Lord, and to the Christian as 
well. Those negative promises, what do they do? They ought to 
firm us up in our godly and reverential fear of this God. who is sure 
to his promises. Those people that cry out in 
the book of Revelation, how long, O Lord, holy and true, until 
you visit justice upon those who shed the blood of the saints 
in the earth? God was sure to his promise. 
He came within a number of years and brought recompense to that 
apostate nation who put to death the Lord of glory and spilled 
the blood of the saints and the prophets. You see, if you're 
here this evening and you're You're outside of Christ in unbelief. 
You mock the positive promise. But you see, hopefully now as 
the preacher preaches and as we pray in a few minutes, hopefully 
you're horrified. You're marked by terror for the 
second and negative promise. God will judge the wicked. Are 
you glorying in your wisdom to the exclusion? God, your marked 
by glorying in the dictates of your own conscience, your own 
minds, your wisdom is your own wisdom, the world's wisdom, somebody 
else's wisdom, but far be it from you to latch on to the only 
true wisdom, which is wisdom from on high, your glorying in 
your own strength. Oh, I'll conquer this world by 
my own vigor and my own strength. You know how quickly that strength 
can go away? An injury, affliction, disease, 
death, You glorying in that to the exclusion, to the sacrifice 
of the living and true God and the knowledge of him? Are you 
glorying in riches? Is your only desire to have things, 
to be rich, to heap to yourself toys and trinkets and trophies, 
all that will fade away? They're perishable. Gold and 
silver perishes. There is only one treasure. That 
is the Christ who spilled his precious blood, the sins of his 
people. The knowledge of the living and 
true God. So might the reality that God is true to his promises 
that cut to your heart with terror. Because all have sinned and have 
fallen short of the glory of God. If you were to die today, 
if you were to die tomorrow, a month, a year from now, you 
have not closed with Christ. Christ, you have not by grace 
believed in him. Horror of horrors. God is righteous 
and true. cast you into the lake of fire 
reserved for the devil and his angels. But you see, the book 
of Jeremiah doesn't, doesn't really, it doesn't stop at chapter 
9. It continues. And what do we 
find? The prophecies of Jesus Christ, the Lord, our righteousness, 
the one who came to be the savior of men, the one who saves those 
sinners who reside, who rest under the judgment and condemnation 
of God. By God's grace, those who believe 
in him, are no longer marked by condemnation and judgment, 
but rather they have peace which surpasses all understanding. 
If you're here tonight and you're feeling the terror of a righteous 
and a holy God, close with Christ. No longer dangle and stay upon 
the point of unbelief, dangling over the precipice, over the 
pit of hell. Rather, close with Christ and 
know that in Him is true wisdom. In Him you find true strength. 
In Him you have riches upon riches and you need nothing else. Let 
us pray. Heavenly Father, we rejoice in 
the Savior. We rejoice in the knowledge and 
in the understanding of you. We thank you that you have called 
us from out of darkness to light, to know you, to understand you, 
to rejoice in your loving kindness, to sing the praises of your righteous 
and perfect government. We pray that you would help us 
to each and every day glory and a knowledge of you. We pray that 
you would, by grace and for your glory, come upon the wings of 
grace and save many now, young or old, who are outside of Christ 
in unbelief, that you would cause them to know you, to know their 
own sinfulness, and to fly to the Savior, in whom is forgiveness 
of sins and everlasting life. We do pray that you'd go with 
us now into this upcoming week, that you would help us, that 
you would strengthen us, that you would cause us to glory in 
you alone. We pray that you would help us 
to live in a manner worthy of your gospel. And we do pray in 
Christ's precious name. Amen.