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Welcome back to the house of 
the Lord. It's a joy to be here tonight. And as we were taking in the 
reading of the Scriptures and singing the hymns, I thought 
of how much of a joy it is to be able to preach from a book 
that was written some 2,600 years ago, and that we have a grand 
deposit by the sovereign and providential protection of God 
of His revealed Word to us, kept throughout the generations, and 
that we can, Lord willing, gain from a preaching and an instruction 
in God's holy Word this evening. You can turn in your Bibles, 
please, to Jeremiah 9. Jeremiah 9. We're going to read from verse 
17 to the end of the chapter, and then look specifically at 
verses 23 and 24. And without yet reading those 
two verses, those are two verses that contain a great proverbial 
saying. A wise and a good saying, and 
one that is most certainly worthy to be memorized. It is the case, 
though, that this saying, a divine exhortation, takes place within 
the context of death and destruction prophesied upon a people. And 
so it's always good to remember the context, though it is a good 
saying without a context. Nevertheless, it falls within 
a context, and it's good to see, to note its weight, its gravity, 
its immediacy to learn something of the Jews to whom it was written, 
to whom it was prophesied, and also to learn something of wholesome 
severity reconciled with divine mercy. And so we're going to 
pick up reading here Jeremiah 9 at verse 17. 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. Let them make haste and take 
up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run with tears, that 
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 a 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 open with a word 
of prayer. Our righteous and holy Father, we thank You again 
that Your people can gather here. We thank You that we can gain 
from Your holy Word, Lord God. We would pray yet again for the 
ministry of the Holy Spirit that there would be, Lord God, unto 
the praise of Your name, sinners who are saved this night by the 
power of Your grace. Lord God, and also that Your 
saints in this place would be built up and edified in Your 
holy Word. We long, Lord God, in all that 
we engage in as a church to see that the Lord Jesus Christ is 
exalted and that You, Most Holy Father, are given all the praise 
and all the thanks and all the glory. And we would just ask 
that we would worship You aright through the preaching of the 
Word. We pray this in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, Amen. Well, I just want to give something 
of a brief explanation by way of introduction before we get 
to verses 23 and 24. A brief explanation as to what's 
going on here. And you can make a note, we won't 
read from these passages, but a good historical and theological 
backdrop for what's going on here, you can read in Deuteronomy 
28-30 and also in 2 Chronicles 36, among other places. But just to see what's going 
on here, why this judgment is coming about, you may have noticed 
as we're reading, most certainly there is judgment coming upon 
this people, specifically the southern tribes of Judah who 
100 years prior would have seen their northern brethren taken 
away into captivity, never to return by way of the Assyrians. Now the Babylonians are knocking 
upon their doors, and they would most certainly be coming with 
death and destruction on their steeds, on their horses, in their 
battle array. And one thing that we see here 
is we see again from the passage that we read, judgment. The Lord 
God by the prophet calls for the mourning women to come, for 
the skillful wailing women to come to make haste and take up 
a wailing for Judah. We notice that there are not 
enough wailing women. There are not enough mourning 
women here because of the death and destruction that is to come 
upon the city. You hear the word of the Lord, 
O women, verse 20, 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. 
Judgment is coming. It cannot be held back. And what 
we need to see or understand before we move to verses 23 and 
24 is that this destruction, this death is most certainly 
just. It is most certainly right. And there is a reason for it. 
Notice Jeremiah 9 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. 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." So we see something that we always 
see when we see judgment, when we see death and destruction 
coming by the hands of the High King of Heaven, that it is in 
justice, it is in holiness, it is right and proper for God to 
do so because of the fact that His people had forsaken His law 
that He set before them. They had not obeyed nor heeded 
His voice or walked according to it, but rather they walked 
according to the dictates of their own hearts. They walked 
according to themselves, according to the folly of their own opinion, 
and they followed after other gods, the Baals, which their 
fathers taught them. So we see that God comes in judgment. God comes with wholesome severity, 
and it is in accordance with His holiness, with His justice, 
and with a proper and perfect righteousness. And then we get 
to verses 23 and 24, and we see this scene of judgment, the statement 
that Jeremiah makes here. bracketed by judgment, death, 
and destruction. And yet, that is punctuated by 
this saying. It is punctuated by these words 
of the prophet to the people. And we're going to look at it 
hopefully in three parts. Time-willing and Lord-willing. 
Those three parts. First off, we'll look at the 
stuff of vainglory. The stuff of vainglory. Secondly, 
the stuff of true glory. And thirdly, the cross our glory. 
Because any consideration of knowing the Lord and understanding 
Him, any consideration of the Lord who exercises loving kindness, 
judgment, and righteousness, always ought to find at its center 
a consideration of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So 
first and foremost, not first and foremost, but first in order, 
let's look at the stuff of vain glory. verse 23. What is the point of verse 23? John Gill puts it this way. The 
intention of the words here is to show that neither the wise 
man with all his art and cunning, nor the mighty man by his strength, 
nor the rich man through his riches could save themselves 
from the destruction before prophesied of. Notice the language here. 
The negative, if you will, exhortation given by God through the prophet. 
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." And just one other quote before we move on considering 
these things individually. This is John Calvin. The meaning 
is of verse 23, that all are greatly deceived who think themselves 
blessed while alienated from God. You see, each of these three 
categories of people are all glorying in things and they're 
doing so apart from a consideration of the God who has blessed them 
with these things. And that wouldn't even be right if 
it was the case that they were glorying, but considering the 
God who gave them these things, we'll see as the prophet continues 
that whatever the case may be, there is something that they 
are to glory in and these three are not those things. But first 
off, let not the wise men glory in His wisdom. Let not the wise 
man glory in his wisdom. Whatever the wise may know, either 
wise falsely so-called, but maybe more to the point, the wise who 
have gained wisdom from the Lord Most High, they have that wisdom, 
they have that knowledge, they have that understanding by virtue 
of the fact that God is their Creator. They His creature and 
He has disclosed information to them. Whatever they're glorying 
in, they're glorying in something that God has bestowed upon them. Now, as we move to the point 
most likely in the mind of Jeremiah, we'll see that the sort of wisdom 
there is not something that they would have received from God 
because it's false wisdom, because it's wisdom falsely used, falsely 
employed. But nevertheless, generally speaking, 
when a man has wisdom, he has it because God has bestowed it 
upon him. But let's look at the type of 
wisdom probably in view here. You can turn backwards to Jeremiah 
chapter 8. Jeremiah chapter 8. The term 
wise or the wise can be used generally speaking, people who 
have wisdom. But perhaps here it's properly 
used concerning a category of people among the Jews who are 
employed in the area of wisdom. Perhaps the scribes, that sort 
of thing. Jeremiah chapter 8. How can you 
say we are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? Look, the 
false pen of the scribes certainly works falsehood. The wise men 
are ashamed. They are dismayed and taken. 
Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom 
do they have?" The prophet here in Jeremiah 9, the verse that 
we're reading, no doubt gives something of a grants the benefit 
of the doubt in this situation to those who would be called 
wise men in the midst of the Jews during that particular time. The wisdom that they had, they 
ought to be ashamed in because of the fact that it was not, 
or that they were rejecting the Word of the Lord. They were using 
their false pens to scribe works of falsehood. And so certainly, 
most certainly, these people claiming to be wise, ought not 
to boast in something that is ungodly, that is characterized 
by a departure from the Word of God, characterized by a departure 
from those things that He has graciously revealed. And notice 
what that sort of false wisdom leads to. If you could turn back 
to Jeremiah 8, if you had turned back to Jeremiah 9, Again, Jeremiah 
8, after the portion that we read, so what wisdom do they 
have? We see what false wisdom, wisdom 
apart from the wisdom that God gives, leads to. Therefore, I 
will give their wives to others and their fields to those who 
will inherit them, because from the least even to the greatest, 
everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the 
priest, everyone deals falsely. For they have healed the hurt 
of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, 
when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had 
committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, 
nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among 
those who fall. In the time of their punishment, 
they shall be cast down, says the Lord." So we see here that 
a false wisdom, a deviation from, a rejection of the Word of God 
always leads to false conduct, always leads to ungodly conduct, 
which most certainly leads to and deserves the judgment of 
God Most High. And so most certainly, those 
sorts of wise folk were not to glory in such wisdom. And it's 
also the case though, as we move more from the specific to the 
general, that there are other types of wisdom that men tend 
to glory in. And one of those things that 
men can tend to glory in, or the types of wisdom, are the 
acquisition of Gospel truths. We have to be careful as Christians 
that we don't glory, that we don't boast, that we're not puffed 
up in our acquisition of Gospel truths. Because we can be jerks 
when we do that. We ought not to be like the Pharisee 
that goes to the temple to pray as Calvinistic Reformed Christians. We ought not to say, thank God 
that I'm not like those horrible Arminians. We ought not to say, 
as those who subscribe to and believe wholeheartedly in covenant 
theology, thank God that I'm not like those wretched dispensationalists. I'm speaking hypothetically. 
But we ought not to, as Christians who have come to a knowledge 
of the truth, who have come to a knowledge of the blessed promises 
of the Gospel, engage in that pharisaical activity of thanking 
God that we're not like so-and-so or that we ought not to be puffed 
up in our knowledge. Because very often the acquisition 
of Gospel truths, and dare I say it can be the case predominantly 
with younger people, is enjoined by pride. It's enjoined by boasting. It's enjoined by jerkery. And 
very often it can be off-putting and does not bring glory to the 
Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is a contradiction to 
have a proud Calvinist. to have a boasting Christian, 
if I can use a broader biblical term. It's a contradiction in 
terms. To have someone who is puffed 
up who has been brought to a knowledge of Gospel truth. Because what 
does the Gospel tell us? What does the Bible disclose 
concerning the wisdom as it has come from God? But it shows God 
as a holy and a sovereign and a perfect God. It shows man as 
totally depraved. Dead in his trespasses and in 
his sins. It puts God where He ought to be, and it puts man 
where he ought to be, laid low before a thrice holy God. And 
it shows forth Christ Jesus as the One who came in the fullness 
of times. One who came who is the recipient of the praises 
of angels. One who dwelt and had that glory that His Father 
had. He shared the glory, being very 
God of very God. And He came in the fullness of 
times, departing that higher glory for that lower ignominy 
where He had nowhere to lay His head. And He died for sinners 
and rose again. He endured spittings and beatings 
and bruising. He weeped in the garden. He had 
Roman nails pounded into His hands and into His feet. And 
He died a perfect death for sinners and rose again. So when we come 
to a knowledge of the glorious truths of Holy Scripture, knowing 
that it's nothing that we have done, but from first to last, 
midst and throughout, it's the perfect activity of a triune 
God, we're laid low and we cannot be those who boast in wisdom. 
We cannot be true of us. And also, of course, what about 
the spiritual and saving knowledge of truth that we have as Christians 
being saved by free and sovereign grace? Because we know that receiving 
that so great salvation is solely and alone by free and sovereign 
grace, there's nowhere to boast. It comes from God. God gave it 
to us. It is a gift of God, not of works, 
lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created 
in Christ Jesus for good works. And so there is no boasting for 
the Christian. There is certainly no boasting 
for those who have been saved by free and sovereign grace. And no doubt, in Jeremiah's time, 
perhaps there may have been, because there always are in every 
generation, those who are wise who think perhaps they can talk 
themselves out of the situation. The invading Chaldeans are coming. 
The Babylonians are coming. Maybe they're trying to entertain 
a little bit of salesmanship and see if they can wiggle out 
of coming death and destruction. Well, no, the wise cannot boast 
in that sort of wisdom because God most surely has sent these 
people to exercise, to carry forth the terms of the covenant 
curse that they might be judged for their iniquities, for their 
transgressions, for them going and entertaining spiritual adultery, 
going a whoring away from God after the bales and after unrighteousness. Secondly, under the heading of 
the stuff of vain glory we see here, the second negative exhortation, 
let not the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the mighty 
man glory in his might. First, in this particular context, 
there would be no valiant man that would be able to stand before 
the judgment sent by the God of Holy Scripture. No doubt there 
would have been in the ranks of Judah, though there were those 
falsely prophesying peace, peace, when there was no peace to come. 
No doubt there would have been some trained with the implements 
of war, trained in the area, the sphere, the realm of military 
might and precision and military brilliance. There would be none 
that could boast, there would be none that would be able to 
stand before the God of heaven and earth because He is most 
surely sending death to come in the windows. He is most certainly 
sending judgment upon His people who have broken covenant so that 
they might receive the recompense for their transgressions. It 
would be like, because it is the case that God is sending 
this judgment, because it is the case that God is bringing 
to bear the weight of His covenant and the judgment for the breaking 
of it, it would be like for a valiant man of Judah to stand before 
the coming Chaldean invasion and try and weasel out of it. 
It would be like a man standing on a dock in Florida putting 
his hand up to stop a coming hurricane. Let not the mighty 
man glory in his might, because it's impossible to stay the hand, 
to stop the gavel that's going to drop, dropped by the High 
King of Heaven. There's no way that the mighty 
man can stop. It is like he would be trying 
to straight arm a hurricane as it's coming with full force to 
destroy land and people. And so, the admonition goes out 
from the prophet that the mighty man is not to 
glory in His might. And we've seen in the Scriptures, 
I'll give just one occasion because it's one of my favorites. But 
we see throughout the Scriptures that when those who are alienated 
from... and when I say alienated, I say 
that they have alienated themselves from God. But when those who 
have separated themselves from God, rejected His Word, rejected 
His truth, rejected what He has disclosed to them, whenever they 
try to come against the God of Holy Scripture, the God of Revelation, 
they always fail. They always lose. But there's 
always those who try to engage in boasting in their strength, 
boasting in their power. They try to engage in glorying 
in themselves and not in the God who created them. And the 
example I want to bring forth is of course that one man who 
tried to do so in the Valley of Elah so many years ago before 
Jeremiah. There's that giant from Gath 
who came before the armies of Israel and defied them. Defied 
their God ultimately. He was blaspheming the Lord God 
of Israel. Boasting in his strength. Boasting 
in spear and sword and javelin. Boasting in his military might. 
Boasting in the fact that he was a warrior from his youth. 
And he had an apologist in King Saul. Surely, David, you can't 
go before this giant because he's been a warrior from his 
youth and you're just a youth ready and good looking. But on 
that day, one who thought, one who boasted in his strength, 
who boasted in his might, who boasted in military acumen and 
brilliance, who boasted in sword and spear and in javelin, ended 
up with his head removed from his body because he defied the 
God of Holy Scripture. That's what happens when you 
come against the God of Holy Scripture, when you defy the 
God of the armies of Israel, when you boast in your strength 
and you do not boast in the God who gave you strength. That's 
what happens to you. You end up judged. You end up 
dead. You end up hell bound. And you'll end up learning that 
your boasting was most certainly folly. There's other types of 
boasting though. Again, moving from the specific 
the people at the time of Jeremiah who perhaps boasted in their 
might and sought to win the day against the coming invasion by 
their strength. What about the boasting that 
some people can engage in in our day? Boasting, of course, 
in moral strength. We have a grand deposit as Reformed 
Christians of people, theologians, those who faithfully have sent 
down to us doctrine and theology coming from the Holy Scriptures 
that most certainly helps us to not boast in moral strength. And what I mean by that is it's 
not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows 
mercy. It's folly for anyone to entertain 
a theology that says God's done all that He can do and now it's 
up to you. Now you have to exercise your 
moral strength. Now you have to exercise that 
ethic that's been instilled in you and make a decision for Christ. That gives place for boasting. 
That gives reason for boasting. That is why the testimony of 
Holy Scripture, the testimony of the prophets, the testimony 
of the apostles always is salvation is of the Lord. There is no room 
for boasting. And the Christian who engages 
in not boasting doesn't do so because he's just so holy and 
he's just so righteous that he doesn't do what he probably could 
because he made a decision for Christ. No, the Christian cannot 
boast because there is no grounds for boasting. Because again, 
from first to last, midst and throughout, salvation is not 
of man. It is of God the Father, God 
the Son, God the Holy Spirit, perfectly redeeming a people 
to the praise of His name. Let not the mighty man glory 
in his might. Nor let the rich man, thirdly, 
glory in his riches. Let not the rich man glory in 
his riches. Perhaps it was the case in the 
time of Jeremiah with all of these wealthy landowners. All 
of these wealthy landowners, many of which did not gain that 
land by wholesome means. But all of these wealthy landowners 
perhaps thinking that they could boast in their riches, glory 
in their riches, and somehow buy Nebuchadnezzar off. Maybe 
buy the Babylonians off. As if these invading hordes came 
and they wanted to negotiate. They're just going to take your 
land. They're just going to take your riches. They're going to 
take your silver and they're going to take your gold. You 
have no boast in your silver and gold. You have no boast in 
your riches. The invading hordes didn't come 
to negotiate. However money may have done them 
right, however money may have done them well in the past, it 
will not fare, it will not avail when God brings holy and righteous 
judgment. So they should not be boasting 
in their silver and their gold. They should not be boasting in 
those things that are temporary, those things that are corporeal, 
those things that God gives and those things that God takes away. 
It's something, I think this is an example of irony and perhaps 
any teachers in the audience can correct me afterwards. But 
turn to Daniel for a moment. Turn to the book of Daniel for 
a moment. As we consider the fact of certainly the wisdom 
or the wise not glorying in their wisdom and the strong. the mighty 
not glorying in their might, their strength. But considering 
this also, the rich not glorying in their riches, turn to Daniel 
chapter 4. Something of an irony here that we have Jeremiah preaching 
to Judah, the southern tribes. Babylon is coming to exercise 
judgment upon them. And they're being led, of course, 
by King Nebuchadnezzar. Exhortation goes out by God through 
the prophet, not to glory in wisdom, not to glory in riches, 
not to glory in strength. And here we have an example of 
the king of the Babylonian army hearing better Jeremiah's exhortation, 
if you will, displaying better the ethic that God, by Jeremiah, 
is calling for. Notice beginning at verse 28 
of Daniel 4. 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? While the word 
was still in the king's mouth, the voice fell from heaven. King 
Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed 
from you. And they shall drive you from 
men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. 
They shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall 
pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the 
kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses. That very 
hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven 
from men and ate grass like oxen. His body was wet with the dew 
of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his 
nails like birds' claws. Now notice here Nebuchadnezzar's 
profession. And at the end of the time, I, 
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding 
returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and 
honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion is an everlasting 
dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. 
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does 
according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the 
inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand 
or say to him, what have you done?" And again, the irony. This is the one who is invading 
Jeremiah, the one who was, by God's preordainment, coming to 
bring the cursings of the covenant upon the southern tribes. And 
yet, he displays at the end of that narrative that we read, 
the ethic that Jeremiah is trying to bring to bear upon the consciences 
of the Jews. Nor let the rich man glory in 
his riches. Their profession, as we get to 
verse 24 in a moment, they were to steer clear of glorying in 
wisdom and might and riches, and they were to glory in the 
Lord God who created them and sustained them and brought their 
fathers out of bondage in Egypt and blessed them. time upon time. 
And even in this book leading up to chapter 9, we would see 
it after chapter 9 if we continued to read, God calling upon those 
who had departed from Him, return to Me and I will heal your backsliding. God has been gracious with them. 
God has been gracious time and time again, but now the freight 
train of His wrath will not be stopped. Verse 24, we'll get 
to in a moment, but we need to understand here with regards 
to let the rich man glory in his riches. Again, that riches 
will not avail. Riches will not avail you on 
the day of judgment. And why do you say that? Well, 
because very often it is the characteristic of people in our 
day that their idols are their riches, their possessions, those 
things that they own. Their gadgetry, their vehicles, 
their families, their houses, their SUVs, their boats, their 
possessions, mounting themselves up, racking up credit card debt, 
debt after debt, just to have stuff. Well, those things will 
avail no one on the day of judgment. Proof of this is in the fact 
that 1,000 times 10,000 dead Greeks still have coins in their mouths. 
Over there in the Mediterranean, it was a custom to put coins 
in the mouths or treasures in the sarcophagi of dead Greeks, 
so that when they pass into the netherworld, they can pay off 
the ferryman to bring them across the river Styx. Might not be 
the most accurate Greek mythology there, you can look it up later, 
but the point is, That it is proof that riches will not avail 
on the day of judgment. That there are millions of dead 
Greeks with the coin still in their mouth. Their rotten dead 
corpse is still in the ground. The coin did not pay off a ferryman. 
The coin did not bring them across the river Styx. Because salvation 
is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone. The smart may think that they 
can weasel their way or avail themselves on the day of judgment. 
the wise, or rather, the strong, the... The wealthy may also think that 
they can avail themselves on the day of judgment, but they 
cannot do so against the Holy God of Holy Scripture who comes 
in judgment, who comes swiftly with righteousness, and who saves 
according to His purposes, according to His ways. There's nothing 
wrong with wisdom. Nothing wrong with strength. 
And nothing wrong with riches. It's a good qualification to 
make. You can be wise. You can be strong. You can have 
money. But the point is that we don't 
boast in those things. We certainly don't put those 
things before the triune God of saving grace. The point is 
that when you boast in those things, when you put them first, 
then there is a problem. Before we move to the stuff of 
true glory, I want to make a quick note that in Christ we have all 
those three things. Wisdom, strength, and riches. Why would we want to boast in 
those three things when in Christ Jesus we have those things perfectly? Christ Jesus is wisdom from God. 
Christ Jesus is strong to save. And Christ Jesus is riches upon 
riches upon riches. Turn to 1 Peter for a moment. 
Because this is always a good verse, a good understanding to 
put into our minds. Because the things that are often 
precious to men are the things that will bring them down to 
the pit, down to everlasting damnation. 1 Peter 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." That's where true treasure is. If we have any sort of boast 
in treasure, this is the treasure that we boast in. The precious 
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Why would we boast in riches 
when we were not redeemed with those corruptible things, silver 
and gold, but rather by the precious blood of Christ? That's what 
our glorying is in. If we're to boast in treasure, 
that is the treasure in which is our boast. The shed blood 
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Moving on then to the 
stuff of true glory, if you can navigate back to Jeremiah 9. 
Back to Jeremiah 9, we have those negative aspects, the negative 
exhortation things that are not to be gloried in. Now, by contrast, 
we have an infinitely higher thing that we are to glory in. 
Verse 24 of Jeremiah 9, 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. Beautiful contrast there. Those earthly things of men's 
wisdom, those things of men's might, and those corruptible 
things of silver and gold, compared to the infinite excellency of 
the triune God of Holy Scripture, who saves to the praise of His 
name. It's a wonderful contrast. First off, we notice here that 
the proper boast is in the understanding and knowledge of God, Let him 
who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me." 
And when we say that proper boast is in the understanding and knowledge 
of God, it's not in the fact that we know Him or that we understand 
Him, but the boast is simply in the Lord God Most High. Pastor 
Butler read from that at the outset of worship this evening. 
The Apostle Paul giving something of an exposition of Jeremiah 
9.23-24, if I can use that phraseology. But in 1 Corinthians 1, we see 
Paul stating at verse 31 that as it is written, he who glories, 
let him glory in the Lord. That is whom we have our boasts. That is the only place that we 
are to direct our glorying, that we are to direct our boasting. 
And what the prophet does here is he gives us three things, 
three perfections, three beautiful attributes of the Lord God that 
we are to glory in, or concerning the Lord that we are glorying 
in. Notice verse 24, that I am the Lord exercising lovingkindness, 
judgment, and righteousness in the earth. First off, it's good. Not first off, but we're going 
to look at those three things briefly, hopefully not sacrificing 
the meaning of them, and to consider what these attributes are in 
the Lord that we are glorying in. First off, loving kindness. 
And it's good to qualify here that this does not mean being 
nice. Very often, a week of kindness is concerning men, one to the 
other, being nice to someone, perhaps making someone a hot 
meal or mowing our neighbor's lawn. The loving kindness as 
it pertains to God is certainly much more higher and infinitely 
greater than that sort of niceness, one to the other. Not that it's 
a bad thing to make a hot meal, not that it's a bad thing to 
mow your neighbor's lawn. But the loving-kindness of God 
is certainly higher than this. More Scripture movement with 
your fingers, if you will. Exodus 36. What is this loving-kindness 
that is characteristic of the Lord Most High in whom we have 
our boasts? Exodus 34. Exodus 34, verse 6, And the Lord 
passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful 
and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and 
truth. keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression 
and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity 
of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to 
the third and fourth generation." Now, I would submit that in those 
select words that we just read from there, we have loving kindness, 
judgment, and righteousness. But just first off, with regards 
to loving kindness, notice what that is as it pertains to God. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful 
and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and 
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression 
and sin. That's eternal lovingkindness. 
Great to make hot meals. It's great to mow lawns. But 
concerning the Lord our God, His lovingkindness is found in 
the forgiveness of sins. His lovingkindness is found in 
that eternal mercy that He has displayed towards us in Christ 
Jesus. It's seen in that hymn that we 
sing, Guilty, vile, and helpless we. Spotless Lamb of God was 
He. Full atonement can it be. Hallelujah, 
what a Savior. We sing that. And we sing that 
to the praise of the lovingkindness of God Most High. Because that's 
kindness. Visiting affection, visiting 
mercy, visiting grace on one who is guilty, vile, and helpless. We probably wouldn't cook a meal 
for someone. We probably should, because it's 
a nice gesture of Christian ethic. But it would be hard to cook 
a meal for someone who's guilty and vile. You probably don't 
see a whole lot of people bringing warm meals to people on death 
row. Maybe you do. But the heart of 
man is such that he probably doesn't entertain that sort of 
endeavor. And mowing a lawn, we probably wouldn't do that 
to people who hate us and spit at us and blaspheme us and want 
to beat us up. Probably wouldn't do that. And 
yet, the Lord God, God manifested in the flesh, goes to the cross 
of Calvary and he dies for those who spit on him, who beat him, 
and who put him on the cross. There were those who were in 
the audience at Christ's crucifixion. We have to suspect, if we take 
Acts 2 into consideration, that Peter comes on the day of Pentecost 
and he preaches to Jews. He preaches to the house of Israel. 
And some of those who were there that day, near after the crucifixion 
and resurrection of Christ, believed and were added to the church. 
And we are such as those who cried out, crucify Him, crucify 
Him. Never let yourselves forget that. 
We can't be those who would be boasting, again, in our wisdom 
and in our might, and saying that we would never be like those 
who cursed Christ before the cross and during His trial. Oh, 
we would never be like those who asked for Barabbas, that 
rebel, instead of Christ, the Lord of Glory. Oh, we would never 
be like those who would say, crucify Him, crucify Him, give 
us Barabbas. We know that that would be us. 
We know that we would be there, devoid of saving and victorious 
grace, crying out to crucify the Lord of Glory so that we 
would not be attached to His bonds and to His cords and to 
righteousness and justice. That would be us. That would 
most certainly be us. And the lovingkindness is seen 
in God demonstrating His own love towards us in that while 
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That wonderful verse 
of Romans 5, verse 8, we see in that the lovingkindness of 
God Most High. And just to see more of this 
language, just to see this lovingkindness and how it is most certainly 
attached to salvation. Turn to Ephesians 2 for a moment. 
And then we'll move on to judgment and righteousness and close. 
But Ephesians 2, we see the language of eternal loving kindness most 
certainly applied to God Most High in the salvation of sinners. And we see, of course, the contrast. 
There are those who are dead in trespasses and sins. Paul 
bringing to bear the reality of total depravity and pre-conversion. The pre-conversion reality of 
those to whom he is writing. They're dead in trespasses and 
sins, verses 1-3. They conduct themselves in the 
lusts of their flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and 
of the mind. They're children of wrath. They 
walk according to the They walk according to the prince of the 
power of the air. And then at verse 4, we have 
that wonderful bat, that wonderful declaration of the eternal loving 
kindness of God. But God who is rich in mercy, 
because of His great love with which He loved us, even when 
we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. 
That again, brethren, is eternal lovingkindness. And that is the 
God in whom is our only boast and in whom we should boast, 
boasting in nothing else. Also, in Jeremiah 9, we have 
this declaration of one of the characteristics of the God in 
whom is our boast being judgment. Being judgment. You'd think it 
might be hard for the people who would be about to take upon 
themselves the judgment brought by God to boast in the God who 
is characterized by judgment. But by grace, anything is possible. 
The thing here is though, is that one of the characteristics 
that the prophet is bringing forth here, that God by the prophet 
is declaring when He says, I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness 
and judgment. One of those aspects, or that 
aspect of judgment Calvin describes this way, and we glory in this 
reality concerning God. Concerning judgment, Calvin says 
that it is the rigor which He exercises against the transgressors 
of the law. That ought to be something that 
encourages us. that the Lord God is not an unjust 
judge. He actually does condemn the 
wicked. He doesn't take a bribe behind 
his back. He does not pervert the ways 
of justice, but rather he does condemn the wicked. We can, in 
the lifetime of our Christianity, read many prayer letters on a 
Wednesday night or a Sunday morning where we hear of these unjust 
judges, these governments, these politicians in countries where 
Christians are being persecuted, who join in on the persecution. 
They cast dispersions, they cast lies, they cover up evidence. 
When Muslims come and behead Christians, they brush it under 
the rug. When Muslims come and whoever 
comes, the enemies of Christ come, and they do violence and 
damage to Christ's people, Very often the governments and the 
unjust judges are complicit in that activity. Well, our God 
sees and He is not an unjust judge. It's been well said that 
justice delayed is not justice denied. We can, in the life of 
our Christianity, see people going unpunished. We can see 
that the tents of robbers prosper. And yet, there is a day though, 
and we should not, but even though we might lament, we might grieve, 
we might say, where is God? Why is He not exercising vengeance 
for His most holy name? Well, He most certainly will. 
There will be a day where He will come. There will be a day 
where those people will be brought before the judge of heaven and 
earth. Those who have not seen temporal judgment they will see 
judgment before the high court of heaven. And they will have 
judgment and condemnation brought upon them for opposing the God 
of high heaven and even opposing His people on earth. And so, 
we can praise God for the fact that He exercises rigor against 
the transgressors of the law. He condemns the wicked, and again, 
He does not take a bribe behind the back. He does not pervert 
the ways of justice. God is not unjust in His dealings 
according to holiness and justice. One passage that you can see 
here, brethren, a scriptural example. There are many, but 
you can turn to Revelation 19 to see something of this and 
to see that it is right to praise God when He brings judgment upon 
those who are deserving. Always recognizing and always 
remembering, of course, that were it not for Christ and His 
vicarious, substitutionary, sacrificial work on Calvary's tree, we would 
be the deserving recipients of this wrath of God, of judgment 
and of condemnation. This is Revelation 19, verse 
1, After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude 
in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power 
belong to the Lord our God. For true and righteous are His 
judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted 
the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged on her the 
blood of His servants shed by her." Again they said, Alleluia, 
her smoke rises up forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders 
and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God, 
who sat on the throne saying, Amen, Alleluia. Then a voice 
came from the throne saying, Praise our God, all you His servants, 
and those who fear Him, both great and small." You see, it 
is a righteous thing. It is a wholesome exercise to 
engage in this sort of praise to the God of holy judgment. 
For any other unjust judge, or for any unjust judge, it would 
be a wrongful exercise and ungodly. But for the perfect and righteous 
and holy Judge, it is a wholesome exercise in the face of judgment, 
in the face of rightful death and destruction, to praise like 
these praise, because true and righteous are His judgments. 
He judges in holiness and righteousness, in integrity and in perfection. 
And righteousness, brethren, our prophet says, or God by the 
prophet declares that we are to glory in the fact that we 
understand and know Him, that He is the Lord, exercising loving 
kindness and judgment and righteousness. I don't want to say on the opposite 
side, but sort of related to judgment, but sort of on the 
converse side of it, The Lord God is upright and perfect in 
all His ways and in all His dealings. He judges the wicked. He condemns 
the wicked. But He is also just towards those 
who are not wicked. He is also just towards those 
who have not dealt treacherously. He executes righteousness and 
justice for all who are oppressed, Psalm 103.6. He is a God of judgment 
who condemns the wicked. He is a God of justice and righteousness 
who justifies the just, who executes righteousness and justice for 
the oppressed. And I want to close quickly, 
as we're most certainly running out of time, with the cross our 
glory. This sort of declaration of what 
we are, what Christians are, what people are to glory in, 
as opposed to wisdom their own, as opposed to their own might 
and as opposed to their own riches, always ought to be focused and 
centered in on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't have 
a theology. We don't have a religion. And 
we don't have a God who has a multiplicity or multiple personalities with 
regards to the way that He saves people. What I mean by that is 
that in the Old Testament, it was not the case that the Old 
Covenant people, those who believed, were just saved by their faith, 
generally speaking, or were just saved by trusting in God. Those 
in the Old Covenant, like those in the New, were saved by grace 
through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. They looked forward 
to a coming Redeemer. I'm paraphrasing Spurgeon, but 
he said something to the effect that the history of God's redeeming 
activity from eternity past, if I can use that language, to 
eternity future has the cross planted strongly and firmly in 
the middle. And it sees, looking back, God 
dealing by grace through people looking in anticipation to the 
coming Redeemer who would shed His blood perfectly, rise again 
the third day. After that perfect work of dying 
for the sins of His people and rising again, we have people 
looking back with great joy upon the accomplished work of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is always at the center. 
The movement of Holy Scripture in the Old Covenant is forwards 
toward the coming Redeemer. The movement of Scripture in 
the New Testament, we have the Gospel accounts still moving 
towards that coming Redeemer, but closer in redemptive history. 
And then the Apostles. penning their books after the 
Gospel accounts, we have that work of accomplishment and the 
implications for it and the command to go forth to preach that Gospel 
that sinners might be saved to the praise of the name of God 
Most High. The point is that the cross cannot 
be divorced from, cannot be separated from a consideration of glorying 
in the thing that we must glory in. Paul summarizes it well, 
of course, in Galatians. He says, God forbid that I should 
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That doesn't 
contradict verse 24 of Jeremiah. Let him who glories glory in 
this. That doesn't contradict because in the mind or in redemptive 
history, we have that one central and most important and most high 
work of salvation. And it was wrought at Calvary's 
tree by the Redeemer, by our Savior and Victor, the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And so any glorying must have 
Christ Jesus there. Any boasting, any boasting whatsoever 
must be a boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And 
that, brethren, is where we see wisdom, where we see strength, 
where we see riches. And in the cross, again, we see 
loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness. When we read here, from Jeremiah 9, that those characteristics 
of the Lord, loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness, 
again, those things are not divorced from the cross work of Christ. 
Because that's where we see loving kindness. God sending His Son 
to the cross of Calvary to die and to rise again for guilty, 
vile, and helpless we. We see judgment in the fact that 
God does not count our transgressions against us, but rather He heaps 
judgment upon the Son and punishes Him perfect, spotless, without 
blemish, He punishes Christ as our vicarious substitute. Bringing 
upon Him the penal sanctions for our transgressions of His 
most holy law, we see judgment at the cross. And we see, most 
certainly, righteousness at the cross also. That's Paul's argument 
in Romans 3, verse 26. The cross of Christ, we see the 
righteousness of God revealed. We see justice. We see mercy. We see loving kindness. We see 
God's perfections displayed in a bloody spectacle at Calvary's 
tree. We see it displayed when Christ 
rises again the third day. And we see it displayed forevermore 
where that same Savior daily and everlastingly intercedes 
for His people. The righteous thing. And so, 
brethren, I want to close as as it always ought to be a characteristic, 
a mark of a closing preacher, when time and opportunity serve 
him to do so, to make a plea for those who perhaps are boasting 
in their wisdom, boasting in their strength, and boasting 
in their riches. Maybe your boast isn't in your own, but maybe 
your boast, maybe your idol, maybe your glorying in is someone 
who has wisdom, someone who is strong, and someone who has riches. 
There are so many people out there vying for our attention. 
And you kids out there, there are so many people who vie for 
your attention. So many different industries 
out there where they're just flashing people in our face and 
setting them up as role models, setting them up as people that 
we are to follow after. And we give them so much more 
time than Christ Jesus our Lord. Those people won't bring you 
to everlasting life. They won't bring you any eternal 
benefits. You can follow after them every day if you wish, but 
on the day of judgment, they will avail you nothing. The wise, 
the prudent, the strong, the rich of this world, find no boast 
in them. Find your soul and whole boast 
in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you're here and you are boasting 
in those things, if you're here and you are putting those idols 
before the God of heaven and earth, before the Christ whom 
He sent, then you will go to hell where you will in an everlasting 
manner endure the wrath and judgment of God and it will be right. 
It will be holy and it will be just. So we plead with you. Believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Each and every 
one who believes in Him enters into everlasting life. And don't 
shrug that off. Pastor Butler comes up here. 
I come up here. And we genuinely plead with you. We genuinely come and we bring 
to bear Scriptures. And certainly, it can be the 
case that it is done in a manner that is bumbling, that goes overtime, 
that goes on a day when people are hot and tired and maybe hungry 
and maybe a little bit grumpy. And maybe that's you kids. But listen, the seriousness of 
the matter is such that you are sinners dead in your trespasses 
and in your sins. that when you enter into the 
other side of death, it will not be a good lot for you if 
you are not in Christ Jesus, not having your righteousness, 
but a righteousness that is not your own, even Christ's. If you 
enter into the other side of death, not in Christ Jesus, not 
believing in Him, it is a bad thing, but it's a blessed thing 
if you believe in Jesus Christ to the saving of the soul, and 
we implore you to do so. And for the saints that are here, 
glory in God. Glory in that loving kindness. 
Glory in the fact that He is a God of perfect judgment and 
perfect righteousness. And that He has sought fit not 
to visit judgment upon you, because He sent Christ Jesus in your 
stead to die for you and to rise again. Let's pray. Righteous 
and Holy Father, we thank You so much for Your holy Scriptures. 
We thank You, Lord God, for this account, this exhortation. And 
we would pray, Lord God, for each and every one of us, because 
it is possible with You that our boast would be in Christ 
Jesus. That our boast, Lord God, would be in You and nothing else. 
Not in riches. Not in wisdom. Not in strength, 
Lord God. But it would be in a God who 
is a God of loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness. 
And we love the fact, Lord God, that that statement in Jeremiah 
says that it is in those things that you delight. That you are 
happy, Lord God. That you find delight in saving 
sinners, guilty, vile, and helpless to the praise of your name. And 
we just ask, Lord God, that you would help us to be such as who 
are redeemed by that God of loving kindness. That we would daily 
conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of that calling by grace. 
And that, Lord God, our children who are gathered here with us 
Sunday in and Sunday out would not tarry, that they would not 
dangle upon the promises of Holy Scripture, but that they would 
immediately and at a young age own our Redeemer as Savior and 
Lord and believe to the saving of their souls. So we pray that 
you go with us now, God, and help us to conduct ourselves 
rightly and biblically to engage in biblical religion knowing 
that we've been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. 
And might we live to the praise of His name. We pray in the name 
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.