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.
Introduction
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.
The Stuff of Vainglory
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.
Not Glorying in 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.
Not Glorying in Might
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.
Not Glorying in Riches
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.
Christ as Wisdom, Strength, and Riches
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.
The Stuff of True Glory
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.
Glorying in God's Lovingkindness
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.
Glorying in God's Judgment
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.
Glorying in God's Righteousness
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
The Cross Our Glory
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.
Application and Plea
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.
Closing Prayer
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.