Full Service | Sunday, November 22, 2020

hello welcome we're so glad you could join us let's all worship the lord together so [Music] [Music] [Applause] the mountain shaking the oceans [Music] [Applause] [Music] your people crying [Music] up the skies is [Music] [Applause] and that's your name it's your name [Music] creation sings your story [Music] your people cry foreign [Music] there is [Music] there's no one our [Music] [Music] filling up the skies with endless praise in this race [Music] is [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] you know me and you still believe [Music] search me oh god [Music] the hurt that's within [Music] awakens [Music] can you still believe [Music] you hold me [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i've heard [Music] again [Applause] [Music] the darkest parts of men [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] what's better [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] heard this [Applause] [Music] bring is again [Music] search me oh god you know [Music] heard that's reason [Music] father we're just so thankful that we can sing these songs just as we're just saying bring us peace lord just wherever we're coming from if it's just a hard season or if we're in a plentiful time just bless that lord just meet us where we are this morning in jesus name amen [Music] here i [Music] am [Music] so free [Music] knowing i'm a sinful man covered by the blood of the lamb now i found the greatest love [Music] [Applause] [Music] just found me just singing majesty here i [Music] am so that i can forgive [Music] sanctified by glory and fire now [Music] is [Applause] [Music] just as i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh man [Music] [Music] [Applause] forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] just your graces found me just [Music] of your majesty [Music] [Music] oh you are able to provide you are faithful perfect time [Music] i am through [Music] no power [Music] oh you are bigger than all my fears [Music] [Music] through each day i will say that i trust you [Music] i trust you [Music] for your [Music] i [Music] [Applause] my am [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you are bigger than all my fears are bigger than all my dreams [Music] [Music] trust you [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh my god lord we're so thankful for that that you are the one who can handle any problem lord that we face any difficulties nothing's too hard for you nothing's too big for you lord and how glad we are for that lord because we can be overwhelmed so easily just by so many small little things that come and go and lord humanity we're frail you tell us that you recognize that that you know that our our frame is weak and that we can't endure all things but lord is so great to be able to put our trust in you lean on you and i pray that during these days that lord more and more your church would just put their total trust in you forgive us lord where we put our trust in things that are uncertain like wealth or health or politics or other people lord we know that you alone are worthy to be trustworthy and so we lean on you we trust you lord we pray that your word today would do its work and just cause us to have that faith built up lord and and that faith comes by hearing and hearing by your word so lord we open our bibles with anticipation today praying that you'd grow us up mature us in faith so bless this sunday morning we pray in jesus name amen amen thanks you guys good work and nice to have you all with us and welcome athy creek um if you're just new and joining us man a lot of good things going on we're just taking a a short closure break like i mentioned last week for uh for this sunday and next and then we're going to open the doors again and you know get people back in the sanctuary so stay tuned for that we'll give you more announcements next sunday on that so it'll be great to get people back in the building here there's a bunch of other announcements i'd like to give you um one thing is don't forget wednesday night bible study we're going to be seven o'clock right here online going through the bible verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book and and make sure just because people aren't here all the time man our pastoral care team is ready to reach out if you need help or care men call the church contact us online uh you know those are things we really want to do is to help people that are in need so let us know uh if you need any help counsel uh maybe you're going through difficult times that's what the church is here to help with so make sure that you contact us uh also um one thing i wanted to give you heads up on was uh we're gonna we're gonna kind of change our christmas eve service scenario so if you're making plans we're gonna do a um as we're calling it you know an athey christmas at home and uh just you know the problem is packing out the building during this time is a little bit tricky and that's what happens with all of our christmas team services and we think this year would even be more kind of packed than normal um and so we're not even sure we can or should do that so what we've prayed about and decided to do is we're gonna do a really fun uh eighth eighth christmas at home there's gonna be uh you know five services like we do on christmas eve 10 12 2 4 and 6. and what we want to do is encourage you guys to have you know small parties at your house uh do an eighth christmas at home and then uh have a fun christmas eve with friends uh that's kind of the plan this year so uh it's exclusively online uh this year so kind of stay tuned for more as far as the holiday season approaches man can you believe thanksgiving is upon us uh one of my favorite holidays uh we're gonna have a great and fun thanksgiving this year but uh make sure and uh stick with us as we go through the bible verse by verse as we are in the book of jeremiah and if you would turn with me to the book of jeremiah as we get ready to study jeremiah chapter 13. uh these are really strange days that we're living um you know it it's got such a strange feel to to to it at least in my experience and i think a lot of people kind of feel the same way it's it's just been a really strange year um so the strangest year i can remember in my lifetime uh you know with the coronavirus uh with the elections and the campaign this past year and a half and with the fires in oregon here and you know with the economy ups and downs and and worries and you know what's going to happen with the election nobody knows who the president's going to be or you know some people think they really know for sure and others don't and there's just confusion and consternation but it just you know you see these riots and black lives matter and antifa and people are just really um uh up you know in a tizzy and there's there's even there's even talk from different groups uh you know about civil war and as a somewhat of a civil war history buff that's not a good idea i mean you know who knows what that would look like in modern days but man back in the 1860s you know everybody thought no big deal we'll just fight off these weirdos and you know deal with it but it was really a most horrific time of our nation's history and you know people are even talking about that kind of stuff now and it causes one to think man are we at the edge of a precipice about to you know go off uh as a nation but it's not just us it's the whole world you know we're we're seeing the world sort of at that edge of the cliff and you know france has stirred up and their macron is hated and you know around the arab world they're they're you know they're using their social distancing dots on the floor putting macron's face on it so they can step on it uh that's the most rude thing you can do in some of those arab countries is step on someone's image or picture you know with the bottom of your foot uh we americans don't think of it the same way but that's like the most insulting thing you can do to a person um you know macron and europe you know a lot of these uh european nations are realizing what that with um radical islam and them letting uh immigration just flood in how it's changed all of europe uh they they call london london now because it's very muslim and there's neighborhoods of sharia law that's being you know imposed and like you know great britain's not the same anymore and there's a lot of change and and you see a lot of a lot of crazy change in the world and they're just strange times well i've got good news for you i have a strange sermon for strange times i think this sermon is appropriate and i think it's going to be strange it's not the kind of sermon you hear every day and it has to do with what god asked of jeremiah god asks jeremiah to do one of these prophet old testament style prophet you know object lessons now we've seen a couple of those already remember isaiah he was told isaiah was told by the lord lord the lord said isaiah i want you to strip down naked okay lord and then what well then i want you to walk around all of israel for a year naked uh you want me to do what lord i mean talk about a tough day at the office uh the lord's saying you've got to walk around naked uh and so um isaiah walked around naked and saying to the children of israel even as i am naked so are you before the lord like it was quite an object lesson when we get to the book of ezekiel man ezekiel's got a bunch of strange things that's required of him you know uh probably one of the you know i mean there's a lot of them we'll talk about in a few weeks when we get to the book of ezekiel but you know one of the big ones that i remember is ezekiel had to lie on one side for 390 days just laid on one side can you imagine uh what that's like and then he flipped over to the other side and he laid there for 40 additional days and you say well what what kind of message was god trying to send the people with ezekiel uh you know doing that well i'll tell you when we get to the book of ezekiel that's coming you know and we're gonna see ezekiel you know and others you know uh doing some weird things with his food cooking with manure and and doing some weird stuff with his food and his hair throwing it in there and chopping it with a sword there's strange stuff some of these guys you might even think these guys have lost their marbles but not not really what happened really was israel had lost their marbles israel had rebelled against the true and living god israel had forsaken the lord and that's the insanity and that's what the lord is trying to show the people of israel that they have lost it and that's why these prophets had to show kind of craziness and it wasn't the prophet that was crazy it was israel and and judah in jerusalem that was crazy what a sad sad indictment against the people of israel now as we look at this one thing you have to remember is these were recorded here in the old testament because as it turns out the jews would be a prime example of really all humanity you know they were sort of our best foot forward really but uh but as it turns out you and i we have the same exact inclinations towards sin toward rebellion toward uh you know just kind of that crazy uh mental attitude against god and so we have to say lord are these lessons for us and the answer is yes they are they're they're here recorded in scripture for all of us to read thousands of years later only to say lord are we guilty of the same thing this this uh crazy uh image that jeremiah is gonna set up for us in this strange sermon it's going to be i think very hit and close to home actually the indictment against judah and jerusalem is really one that could be leveled at our culture our people today so let's take a look it's jeremiah chapter 13 verses 1 through 11. let's take a look at this this will be our text for today it says there in jeremiah 13 1 thus saith the lord unto me go and get thee a linen girdle and put it upon thy loins and put it not in water so i got a girdle according to the word of the lord and put it on my loins and the word of the lord came unto me the second time saying take the girdle that thou hast got which is upon thy loins and arise go to euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock so i went and hid it by the euphrates as the lord commanded me and it came to pass after many days that the lord said unto me arise go to euphrates and take the girdle from fence which i commanded thee to hide there then i went to euphrates and digged and took the girdle from the place where i had hid it and behold the girdle was marred it was profitable for nothing then the word of the lord came unto me saying thus saith the lord after this manner will i mar the pride of judah and the great pride of jerusalem this evil people which refuse to hear my words which walk in the imagination of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them shall even be as this girdle which is good for nothing for as this girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man so have i caused to cleave unto me the whole house of israel and the whole house of judah saith the lord that they might be unto me for a people and for a name and for a praise and for a glory but they would not here interesting illustration strange illustration poor jeremiah man this prophet i i wonder if he was like oh man lord you want me to do what um you see uh this this this is so crazy because can you imagine poor jeremiah he was always already hated uh we're gonna find out on chapter 11 on wednesday night um that you know even his hometown and even some of his family members hated jeremiah he was despised by this time he's still a fairly young prophet but they they hated him and thought he was a weirdo and so the lord says i want you to go you know and get this girdle and wear it around and you know walk up to euphrates now um the thing about this is this girdle that he was wearing and we'll talk about what it all is in a second but um you know can you imagine the people of judah and the men of jerusalem saying uh jeremiah what are you doing um just walking around well where did you come from and what's up with your girdle uh it's all dirty and holy and moldy and what the world's going on well i just went on a trip somewhere where'd you go euphrates 300 miles away you walked 300 miles in that girdle well yeah why well it's um you know i was just doing what the lord told me to do and thus saith the lord as this girdle looks on me that's what the lord says about you and that was his sermon that was his message i'm sure the people thought man that jeremiah he's lost his marvels it's a tricky thing sometimes hearing what the lord has to say because i think sometimes we as humanity are so sure of ourselves that we know what's good and what's right and what's wrong that the truth almost looks crazy sometimes you know i think they probably thought jeremiah was nuts but actually it was the other way around the people had truly uh you know lost their um love for the lord they they lost their care or interest in the lord and they they thought that they were self-sufficient and they were about to be completely destroyed by the babylonians but they would not hear it they didn't want to hear it because it sounded crazy to them and be careful just because something sounds crazy doesn't mean that it is and just because god's word tells us stuff that's sensational and interesting but also a little on the edge doesn't make it untrue i sometimes feel that human humanity or human nature is that we only will agree with or believe in the things that we can discern or figure out for ourselves you know and as long as we can prove it scientifically or this or that um which the lord reaches outside of logic and science sometimes too and so that's the problem jeremiah's got this powerful strange message that he's going to give to the people and the the the story here is is quite powerful but important let's consider you know the main parts of this illustration this this sort of uh you know object lesson that god gives through jeremiah the first thing that we're gonna look at is the prophet himself number one um you know jeremiah is the prophet the the first uh the first few words of this verse thus saith the lord unto me this is jeremiah saying this is what god told me to speak to you and that's what a prophet's job was the prophet was would speak the word of god to the people and we've talked about what prophets are and were and even to this day what what is in previous studies but jeremiah was an official prophet of the lord and you know poor poor jeremiah you know his life's being threatened um look look back look back in chapter uh 11 let's let's pre uh preview uh verse 19. um in jeremiah 11 19 it says but i was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter i knew not that they had devised devices against me saying let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof and let us cut off from the land of the living that uh that his name be no more remembered who are they talking about that almost sounds messianic you know that they're going to cut off you know and kill you know someone like a like an animal but that's not messianic this is this is jeremiah's friends and family saying we're going to kill him like this is a tough season and now now jeremiah has to do this interesting illustration so the first part of god's plan to reveal his word to the people is through the prophet jeremiah poor jeremiah and now we look at from the prophet then we go to the girdle itself number two on our list the object of this illustration um now uh you know this idea of a girdle it's um it's kind of hilarious i remember as a little kid i remember some commercial came on tv about a girdle and i had no idea what a girdle was but i remember you know i was the kid the youngest in the household and i'm the guy mommy what's a girdle you know and uh my whole family i could sense the awkwardness you know and and my mom had to explain and my dad you know it was an awkward moment my sisters were shaking their heads in uh embarrassment you know but i remember turning bright red when i heard what a girdle really was um and so you kind of think what in the world is jeremiah wearing a girdle for um well it's the problem is you know uh this we have a view of what a girdle is but we have to dig and find out what this girdle was in biblical times it wasn't to give jeremiah that nice shapely uh body uh under his tunic or whatever nope this this girdle had a different sort of role but it is sort of an underwear garment so there's some close things there let's take a look at the definition of the hebrew word the hebrew word is azor is the is the way you would say that in hebrew if you look up ezzor in the hebrew dictionary [Music] and and by the way that word azores translated 14 times in the king james as girdle but the word azor it could also be called a waste cloth the innermost piece of clothing a waistband but here's here's kind of a key something bound bound waistband cloth under undergarments that's the idea when a when a um you know um a person wore a girdle it was often sort of a the under most part of clothing that when they would gird up their loins as the bible says they would sort of tuck everything in together and sort of use um this this girdle to hold it all together this girdle would would not just work as sort of undergarments but also would be sometimes even translated or talked about as a belt and the reason it would be called a belt is because it would keep things tight into your body even weapons and what have you oftentimes the weapons would be attached to the azore which would be that tighter innermost garment and it would keep things from flapping in the wind and stuff like that by the way we have a funny uh slide about uh how they would gird up the loins of a person uh in bible times uh it's uh it's an interesting thing remember how it says that men would gird up their loins even jesus by the way said this let your loins be girded up um but this is the idea we found this in the art of manliness uh they actually show how biblical times they would gird up their lawyers and this is a good illustration honestly as funny as it is um but it basically shows you know you couldn't go to battle wearing that little sort of dress sort of thing so they would gird up their loins and the way they would sort of tuck everything together would uh be that way of girding but it also involved uh that that uh thing that the azor or that undergarment called in the english the girdle and that's why we see that term gird up the loins and what have you so so there you have it this this it's yes it's kind of an undergarment um it's not uh you know uh um you know something that's spandex or anything like that it's it's just linen it was a linen piece of cloth uh that they would wear under their robe and it was kind of the innermost part of clothing it was you wouldn't walk around in your girdle typically um but that's that's what jeremiah is going to be asked to do now what's the spiritual significance of the girdle like why does the lord use this clothing article to say israel you're the girdle and who's the man that's wearing the girdle well as it turns out that's the lord did you see that in our text it says there in verse 11 for as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man so i have i have caused to cleave unto me the whole house of israel in the whole house of judah saith the lord the lord saying um i wanted to sort of have you on as a girdle now by the way this this speaks of a couple things um uh the girdle representation means to be bound up but also it's it's a picture of of service and um and by the way there's probably a third one that uh not to get overly weird about it but even intimacy um you know if you uh if you realize the girdle is that part if the lord is wearing the girdle it's like he wants his people close to him and uh man i've even read some scholars that talk about how the lord wants intimacy with his people and um and that's what this girdle sort of represents but um uh also to be bound up jeremiah 13 11 as we read it it says oh i would have caused them to cleave the whole house of israel the whole house of judah saith the lord that they might be unto me for a people and for a name and for glory but they would not hear the lord wanted to bind up his people around his body if you would um and that there's this binding up by the way there's a word that we use and now it takes on a little more of a negative uh connotation and it's the word religion religion uh you know there's if you're old enough you remember when religion meant something good uh maybe you remember the old hymn give me that old-time religion you know it's good enough for me uh we should bring that song back that was a good one but um but but to you know today religion over the last 30 40 years religion has become sort of a negative word and and the reason is because of abuse because people of religious uh you know uh proclivities they would use religion and make it a negative thing i remember as a kid there was a big phrase that was hip hippie and sort of jesus movement of the 60s and 70s where um where they said man i'm not religious you know i'm in to have a relationship with the lord are you religious no i believe in jesus and i have a relationship and so we were trying to make this turn from hardcore legalistic weird religion to having a personal relationship with christ and that was true and the lord did use that movement by the way but originally the word religion meant something good and by the way the word religion comes from the idea of being bound up bound up that's what religion means now originally it meant to be bound up together as the church of jesus christ around jesus christ when religion was a good word it was a good binding sort of like what the lord wanted for the people of israel to be bound up around his body cleaving to his body in this imagery of the girdle to be bound up to the lord in a positive way um but religion the word became bound up and it meant sort of more like bound up in shackles and chains and you know handcuffs uh you know that's what religion started to you know change to have that negative meaning um but but really it's interesting because the lord is saying that's what he wanted the girdle was a representation of being bound up with the lord and that's what he wanted for his people so the first representation is this idea of being bound up together with the lord that's that was his objective that's what he wanted um but it became a bad thing because the girdle became useless um uh it says that several times here in this little story that the girdle was useless and and it would just be bound up on the lord as a as a problem by the way in the new testament do you remember someone's girdle that was used as an illustration it was there in the book of acts chapter 21 verses 10 through 13. there's this interesting little story um that that has to do with paul the apostle and um his girdle let me read it to you it's acts 21 uh 10-13 it says and as we tarried there many days there came down from judea a certain prophet named agbas there's a good name agabus when we go to israel we usually have two buses and we call one bus the barnabas and we call the other bus the agabus but verse 11 when he was come unto us he took paul's girdle and he bound his own hands and feet and said thus saith the lord the holy ghost so that the jews at jerusalem shall bind the man that owns this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the gentiles you see this guy agabus was basically giving a word saying if paul goes to jerusalem the jews are going to bind him up and imprison him and he was right but paul shrugged it off said yeah whatever i'm going to go to jerusalem i don't care what happens to me there that's basically what happens but is isn't it interesting that this idea of the girdle of the old testament meaning about being bound up to the lord paul was pictured as being bound up by his own girdle um it's a picture of the girdle as being bound up is it a negative or positive well that's that depends on the girdle itself you know is the girdle uh useful and is it bound up meant to be a garment that's functional or like the jeremiah illustration this girdle has become useful for nothing profitable for nothing that's that's the idea here so here we see the representation of being bound up the second representation of a girdle in the bible i know it's weird that we're talking about a girdle all sunday but is the idea of service or servanthood um you know we see jesus um you know when it says there in you know luke 12 35 he says let your loins be girded about um and he what's he talking about it's talking about readiness for service um readiness uh that's why men would gird up their robe for battle they were ready for service in in the military or service as far as work or serving it's all part of what the bible says so what happens when jesus in john chapter 13 gets up to be a servant of all remember he stripped himself of his clothing and he girded himself that's the word he used girded himself with a towel and why did he do that he was ready to serve as he went to wash the disciples feet so the spiritual significance of the girdle is to be bound up to the lord in a good way tight and around the lord intimacy but to be bound together but the second imagery is that of servanthood and serving the lord by the way exodus chapter 29 verse 9 the priests serving the lord in the temple were to wear a linen girdle that was part of their you know clothing that was so important they wore all kinds of interesting garments to serve the lord in the in the temple or in the tabernacle but in jeremiah 29 9 the priest wore these these same girdles uh if you would so um you know our text here is is speaking of that for israel god wanted israel to be bound up together with the lord but they said we will not hear that we don't want any part of that and because of that it it made them useful for nothing they weren't able to serve the lord because they weren't bound up with the lord so this object of this girdle is um is israel israel is the girdle that god wanted but it became useless how did it become useless um well that that's that speaks more of the condition of this girdle what was the the condition of this girdle it says there in uh you know in our text it says it was good for nothing or profitable for nothing it says there in verse 7 and also in the end of verse 10 it shall be as this girdle which is good for nothing um have you ever heard somebody call you're good for nothing or you're good for nothing that's that's a tough thing to hear especially when it's god saying this about israel they become useless to god because of why why did this girdle it was supposed to be a useful garment why did it become useless well this is where we we realize that this is what god wants for his people what use do you have to god what possible good thing could you or i hope to be or do for god well one thing i'd like to remind you and i this morning is this in revelation 4 11 it says thou art worthy to receive glory and honor and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they were created you and i exist to please god and there's a use that you have to give glory to god to honor the lord that's a useful person if you're living to please yourself or living for yourself uh that means you're probably becoming less and less useful to god when it's all about yourself you're not fulfilling your calling in life um your calling is to be useful for the lord revelation 4 11. um now why did this become useless well it's because of what jeremiah did to it in this little object lesson um how did this this girl become useless well it was dirty and it was uh marred is the the king james way of saying it but just all you got to do is picture what jeremiah did he bought a brand new girdle useful put it on and he walked 300 miles do you realize that like 250 to 300 miles he went from you know just below jerusalem up north uh northeast and went 250 miles on a journey what did the girdle look like after the 250 mile journey as he walked that way and then he took took this girdle in a place where there was a rock with a hole in it and he crammed the girdle in this hole in the rock and buried it probably with dirt and left it there and the bible doesn't tell us how long it was there but it was sitting there marinating in the dirt with worms and maggots and decomposition uh you know over a long period of time that's all we know it was a fairly lengthy period of time that this girdle sat out in the weather with water and dirt and you know rain and whatever whatever it was um but by the time jeremiah the lord says now go back to that euphrates area did he have to hike back 300 miles again i don't know but he went and dug up his girdle that he had hidden in the dirt in the rock and and he pulls it out and there it is marred useless lord you want me to put this on i can barely even wear this thing it's totally messed up it's it's it's just gross moldy and dirty and holy and the lord says yep put it on and and that's what jeremiah had to sort of go around and show people see this is you guys this girdle this represents you um um and so this this girdle was useless um now one of the reasons it became useless is nobody had washed it this is an important part of this picture did you see what happened in verse 1 in verse 13 chapter 13 verse 1 it says you get the linen girdle put it upon my loins and put it not in water in other words never wash it in water so that's a pretty bad deal he wore it hiking 300 miles and buried it for a long time put it back on hiked 300 miles back and uh never washed it once uh that that's a uh i mean enough information right there i think uh it's a bad deal it needs to be washed but the reason its condition was useless and marred is because it never been washed and it sat there hidden in a rock by the euphrates river and you see that's that's the problem the condition of the girdle was useless but how did it become useless well that brings us to the third point the hiding place itself where was that girdle hidden um in fact um the lord told jeremiah arise and go to euphrates now the euphrates this is something that we might miss in our culture because we don't live in that region of the world but the euphrates was sort of synonymous with babylon you know the euphrates river was the mighty river uh that was up in the northern region that flowed down into babylon in fact the euphrates remember when we talked about daniel's prophecy or when you know cyrus uh the medes and the persians came and attacked babylon that's how they conquered his went under the river portion that went into babylon the euphrates river and so the euphrates you know it's like if you can think of rivers and places you know the nile is synonymous with egypt the jordan river is synonymous with israel the euphrates river is synonymous with babylon now we know that egypt is a type of the world in the bible but babylon interestingly enough is also speaking of a type of the world but it also interestingly enough speaks of the world and its oppression the oppression of the world because the babylo babylonians you know were oppressive and they took the people of israel into captivity you know daniel shadrach meshach and abednego and they were pagan and what's interesting is the jews were dabbling with babylonian gods and stuff like that already before they even were taken by the babylonians and so here's jeremiah saying you know what this girdle became useless because it was buried there in the uh in the babylonian river the euphrates river and and it speaks of the world and its idolatry the world and its oppression because of sin and rejection of god how did this girdle become useless it became useless by being hidden in the world uh hidden in the world that's that's kind of an interesting image that jeremiah brings the girl why did he have to walk 300 miles to tuck this girdle away in the dirt in the rock the lord had a reason for him to do that he could have just buried it anywhere but he says go up to the babylonian region and bury the girl up there and that girdle will become useless because of that that imagery of the babylonian godless idolatry and all that stuff you know the quickest way to become useless to god is to be buried in the world bury yourself in the world spiritually emotional physically just be a worldly godless person you will become useless marred in the hand of god you will no longer be useful and this is the imagery that the israelis had to learn but it's something you and i should be very cautious about the quickest way to become useless to god is to become buried in the world and this lack of water is the problem there nobody washed this girdle so it became useless and see this is where we start to come to the answer of how we fix this girdle or prevent the girdle from becoming useless maybe it would be a better way to say it how do you do that the missing element is water remember the girdle said put it not in water jeremiah was told specifically not to put water in and wash it because that's the problem with israel they were not washed they were not cleansed but they buried themselves in the dirt of the world and they stayed there and became totally useless to god um this missing element of water you guys know in the bible water is a picture of the word of god it's interesting because there's many scriptures in fact let me go over a bunch of my favorites uh washing with water of the word scriptures the first one might just be romans chapter 12 verse 2 where it says this it says i beseech you well verse verse 2. it says be not conformed to this world you guys have this memorized but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of god romans 12 2 is telling us kind of the it's the opposite it's the antithesis of what happened to the girdle um we're not to be conformed to this world the girdle became conformed to the dirt and the mud of babylonian river i was buried in the world but as believers we're not to be conformed to this world but we're to be transformed by the renewing of our minds how does that happen well there's just wash more washing scriptures for example john's gospel or primary psalm psalm 19 let's talk about that one jot these down in your notes in psalm 119 you know the psalmist wrote about this he said how shall a young man cleanse his way thy word have i hid in my heart that i might not sin against thee um that's that's the that's the key is the word psalm 119 verse 9. um the next scripture uh there is john 15 3. and that's where jesus declared this now you are clean by the word that i have spoken unto you you see how there's this cleansing link to the word of god and water maybe the best one of all is ephesians in chapter 5 verse 25 where it says this it says that the jesus christ will wash his bride the church of jesus christ in the water of the word that's how he cleanses us and so the lacking element in in the jeremiah imagery is no water no washing the girdle became useless and it was buried in the world and this starts to tell us how can we keep ourselves becoming from becoming useless in the hand of god how can we uh avoid this pitfall of the people of israel this this um this you know dirty girdle well um the that kind of leads us to sort of this final section of our uh lesson here and number four the people themselves um jeremiah 13 11 says the whole house of israel the whole house of judah sad to say uh the lord said i wanted you to be my people for a name for praise for glory but they would not hear they would not hear what listen they would not hear the word of the lord thus they were dirty and they were useless they were buried in babylon and they weren't willing to hear the word of god and so they became useless to god this is sort of the logic that god was trying to have the people of israel see but they really had no idea how dastardly their deeds were they were just on the edge of the cliff strange times in israel because you know they knew their northern brothers and sisters were taken into assyria years earlier and they know that babylons are coming but they're sort of in denial in fact we'll see the scriptures um coming up in the next couple of verses even we're going to see how the lord says go ahead fill your all your vases you know your jars with wine be party animals go ahead but as you fill those vases with wine so too the babylonians are gonna come and fill your land with soldiers like it's it's a very ominous strange time they're living in sort of this pseudo prosperity kind of like us we're still even though we have a pandemic even though we have you know um hatred and uh rioting and and election problems and all the things that you know an economy maybe that they're worried about collapsing in 2021 and there's all kinds of worries we're all still doing pretty good fill up your you know things with wine and be drunk the lord says sort of sarcastically but even while you're filling those pots with wine when you do that remember your land is going to be filled with babylonian soldiers it's an ominous thing that's happening to the people of israel but they would not hear that's quite a quite an indictment against god's people the people would not hear and so all that to say uh what do we do how do we avoid the pitfall of the people of israel man i'll tell you the answer is pretty clear to me um you have to go to the word of god and wash and not bury yourself in this world but be transformed not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that's what the lord calls for us to do and to be washed in the water of his word there's a washing and a cleansing effect now at this moment i kind of have to explain something because um um people get confused on this uh some people think well brett are you talking about losing your salvation becoming dirty with the world listen there's there's kind of two parts to this if if you're a person who's never been saved if you've never accepted christ and the work of the cross the bible says you're still in your sins and you are positionally in real trouble like your your life position is bad because the wages of sin is death but good news the lord wants to save you from your sins and he's made it so simple for you and for me why um because we couldn't save ourselves so he did the hard work that's when jesus god became a man lived among us came from heaven to earth and then he lived the perfect life sinless and became the lamb of god that was slain the sacrifice that would be slain for you well brett just for me well you almost have to think of it that way i know he died for the whole sins of the whole world but you're the one who's in trouble you're the one who sinned and you need salvation and jesus is the answer for that salvation there's no other way than going through the cross of jesus christ jesus said i am the way the truth of life no man comes to the father which is in heaven but by me if you want to go to heaven you got to be forgiven of your sins washed and saved so there's this idea of all your sins past present even the future sins you've yet to do christ died once for all of those and for anyone who wants to accept christ they can do that and be saved and forgiven it's not carrying a huge bible and walking around with a fake smile and plugging into a church or giving to the church money or and that's not what saves anybody you're not saved by your works you're saved by god's grace through faith not of your works lest anybody both say look at me i'm pretty amazing nope there's no boasting we say we're sinners and we are saved by god's grace period so that's salvation but once you're saved there's a kind of another tier that we talk about and that is you know james talks about well faith without works is dead in other words if you if you um claim to have faith but you have no you're not a help to the lord or serving the lord then there's there might be evidence that you never really were saved so first of all you need to make sure you're saved and then what happens to israel they become useless to god god forbid that we as christian people become useless because we're buried in the world buried in babylon you know where we become marred and useless and dirtied by our sins it sort of reminds me of that that story remember we we referenced that jesus girded himself john chapter 13 with a towel and he got down and started washing the disciples feet and do you remember we talked about this even recently where peter realized it was crazy that jesus was washing his feet he said oh lord i you should not be washing my feet but i should be washing yours but jesus was doing something that was more symbolic he said listen peter if you don't let me wash your feet you can have no part with me that's this imagery that we're talking about you can't have any part with god if your feet are dirty but peter gets this confused well then lord not my feet only but my head and my hands wash my whole body and what did jesus say peter your head and head are they're already clean that's salvation you're in other words you can almost say peter you're saved but you're dirty because you've lived life and you've made mistakes and and you need to be clean on your feet so there's there's two kinds of cleansing there's the ultimate salvation cleansing that's when you become a christian but then on a day to day basis you and i need to daily cleanse and wash um because we touch this world like peter's feet and we get dirt that attaches to us and so how spiritually does a christian how does a young man cleanse his ways thy word have i hid in my heart that i might not sin against thee how does the church of jesus christ get washed jesus washes his church in the water of the word that's that's where we see this correlation there's this cleansing that takes place on a daily basis so so salvation is positional in christ jesus you're saved but this washing that we're talking about is is practical just daily practical cleansing that comes by standing in the word of god and and really what you're doing right here with 80 creek is we're going through the bible verse by verse there's a cleansing effect that takes place but i would not just say you know wednesday and sunday but daily dose of the word of god is what the doctrine ordered you know the lord wants us to wash daily in his word i hope you're devoting time you know to the word of god some people say brett i like to read the bible at home but i i just don't get it uh i don't understand it wednesday night you kind of explain it and sunday you make make i mean i would have read this story about a girl and thought what was that about but you might say so i just you know the word just goes through me like i said listen if you pour the water of the word through yourself at least you'll have a clean sieve you may not understand everything you read or know all the theology or the doctrine but that's okay just there's there's a supernatural washing that takes place as you read through the bible even in your own personal devotion time and that's just a daily cleansing and it's that behavior being into god's word daily that will keep you from burying yourself in babylon i remember when i was in college i was full-time student but i was also a full-time pastor i was a children's pastor of a large congregation and i remember that was a fairly stressful time of my life because i was you know working 40 hours a week and i was taking uh sometimes up to 21 credit hours uh in college and my grades did reflect that uh that it was probably too much but i had just enough you know gpa to you know get through and um it was it was stressful and tense but um i remember you know going to southern oregon university uh and it was um it's like a little miniature berkeley you know very very much godless i remember a lot of my professors they're the reason that a lot of these young people are communist marxist socialists because i remember i had a bunch of communist profs at southern oregon but they're also atheist as most all communists really are and socialists and um and uh i remember i had to kind of be doing battle with these uh professors and i remember uh talking to my own pastor saying that man how am i gonna get through this you know i'm a christian they know it i'm a pastor and i'm at the most one of the most liberal uh institutions uh you could ever be at you know and and and i love what my pastor's advice john told me he said listen brett you've got to read all those textbooks you got to listen to those lectures and stuff but make sure that you have a steady course of the word don't let your you know reading of your college textbooks you know start to eclipse your reading of scripture your reading of scripture is what's going to get you through safe and sound and i'm pretty convinced had i not been given to the word of god i might just have ended up buried in babylon there at southern oregon university with all the communists marxist atheists that were trying to you know pull the students brains into oblivion but because i had that steady diet of the word i really see that now that was the anchor that kept me out of the rocks and uh and i feel like that all of you all of us we need to look at it that way we live in a world right now where people are being dragged into buried in babylon kind of stuff and and um we need to say nope we're gonna we're gonna wash in the water the word daily um people are being buried in babylon because of politics man they're all worked up about what's going on and and i understand why i mean there's a lot of crazy stuff going on and i'm not saying you ignore that stuff but but i see people that have kind of buried themselves and they're finding themselves angry and frustrated and almost in a tizzy because of politics i see people because of the coronavirus people are flipped out and yelling and screaming at stores about wearing masks you're not marrying i just i just heard of a store that was open um and and even breaking some of the rules to be open um and you know hundreds of people were there because they wanted to be open um and it was not in compliance with the state of oregon but this one guy i heard went in and started screaming at one of the employees because they were wearing a mask i was like what and this the store the owner told me yeah the guy was screaming at the store person even though the store was opening up and doing what you know the right thing um but they had their employees inside wearing masks and so this guy's screaming and cussing out the the people because they were wearing masks and they felt like they shouldn't i'm like wait a minute usually it's the other people screaming but as it turns out there's just craziness going on everywhere people are upset uh and uh you know the more and more i'm just saying there's more and more doctors coming out even yesterday legitimate doctors are saying this thing is way overblown and the whole coronavirus thing some people are saying it's gonna be even though it's a real flu and it's a real sickness and people have died um they're saying it's it's not even close to what where you know the media and politics are saying so people are up in a tizzy ah and they're freaking out man this is not what god has called his church to be we're not to be anxious how much are we supposed to be anxious about anxious about nothing you know philippians tells us be anxious for nothing but everything in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god which passes understanding will rule your hearts and your minds in christ jesus you see his church we don't want to become useless a useless girdle because we're buried in babylon the world in a system i see people getting buried in all kinds of fears and all kinds of frustrations of the strange days we live i wonder if the reason the lord used a strange object lesson with jeremiah i wonder if he used the strange illustration of a girdle because they were living in really strange days and it sort of matched and honestly the more i think about it the more i think this sermon of jeremiah for us today about the girdle that was marred in the mud and maggots and worms and all that stuff totally fits today's problem you and i need to watch out and say lord we want to be usable we want to be like pure clean linen tightly bound to you um that's useful and ready we don't want to be the girdle that's marred and dirty and muddy and maggoty uh we want to be the the useful girdle i'd like to end with this final image that the bible actually gives about a girl you want to know what the final image of the girdle is it's in the book of revelation it's revelation chapter 1. check this out in revelation chapter 1 verses 12-13 it says there and i turned to see the voice that spake with me and being turned i saw seven golden candlesticks that's the seven you know churches of asia minor and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one likened to the son of man that's jesus clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the paps with a golden turtle bret we're done talking about girdles come on uh we don't like talking about underwear the whole service well isn't this interesting we end the story with a golden girdle um there was a tv series oh that was golden girls um now i'm talking about the golden girdle that jesus was are you say brett what is this all about why was jesus wearing a golden girdle gold in the bible speaks of deity and purity those two things and i i find it interesting that jesus in the end times scenario picture as he's addressing the church of jesus christ he is wearing the perfect girdle the golden girdle that speaks of absolute purity but also speaks of his deity um and i wonder if that is sort of an image the lord wanted to leave us with when the bible talks all about girdles and it links to being bound up with the lord in a good way um and also speaks of being able to serve him with all purity that's what the church needs to be we need to be the golden girdle where we're usable where god says there's a person who's clean and pure and walking with me and trusting and letting the word wash them daily and the lord says you can either be a golden girdle or you can be a moldy girdle mold or gold what are you gonna do are you gonna be the moldy girdle or the goldy girdle that's the question that we're left with this morning i hope that in these days where people are so tempted to get bogged down in babylon buried in babylon and their their usefulness becomes really not so much because they've buried themselves in worldliness and world's concerns and and they've lost their ability to just purely righteously serve jesus christ that's the challenges before us and i think there's a choice that you and i have to make are we going to listen to jeremiah or like the people of jeremiah's day are we going to be rebellious this last phrase of our text here in jeremiah 13. this last phrase is sort of ominous what it says but they would not hear they would not hear may the lord give us ears to hear even there in revelation as he says to the seven churches you know the spirit of the lord speaking to the church let him has ears hear what the spirit says to the church and i think this is an important message for us the church of jesus christ don't get bogged down and buried in babylon but be pure and wash yourself in the water of the word and be useful not useless in the hands of the lord in jesus name let's pray together lord as we close out this service i pray that you would cause us to consider our usefulness to you lord have we become useless because we're frustrated or angry about politics or about the coronavirus lord have we allowed ourselves to get sidetracked with things that really don't matter in the big picture lord have we been buried in social media and trying to figure out who we are and what our influence lord have we been buried by worshiping other gods and other other issues that are apart from you lord help us help us to be a people who are constantly washing in the water of your word help us to be useful lord i i love that um when you return there in revelation 19 it says that um there'll be ten thousands of the saints returning with you wearing fine white linen i i thank you that you when we when we accept you and when we get saved that you wash us clean and you make us pure and holy based on what you did in the cr on the cross lord i pray that everyone out there watching today will know that they're saved if there's anyone who's yet to accept the lord lord i pray that you just caused them to give their heart right now and just with an attitude of prayer i sure would love to have uh you have that opportunity to accept jesus if that's you and you've never done it here's what you do you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart jesus all those things i said about jesus that he died was buried that he rose from the grave for your sins to to pay the price for your sins that's why he did all that and you know the good news is that that forgiveness is free it's the grace of god grace means undeserved favor god chose you you didn't deserve it you didn't earn it but it's a free gift so you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart those are the two things that are required confession of faith lord i believe that your son jesus died on the cross for my sins confess that right now and then believe in your heart lord i do believe that you rose from the grave and that my sins are forgiven and then just thank the lord for saving you lord thank you for saving me for forgiving me of my sins and don't let satan whisper in your ear that you're not forgiven that's what satan does the bible says he accuses the brothers day and night that you're worthless but when you accept christ you become so valued and pure and holy positionally in christ jesus man if you did that would you let us know and you can text us and tell us i accepted the lord today just just there's a number that'll be at the bottom of your screen and that number you can text and just say new believer that'll let us know we won't send you stuff or uh you know uh be weird about that but it'll let us know that you accepted christ and we'll be praying for you uh that'd be awesome so uh for you that are saved let's consider are we buried in babylon right now do we need to be washed in the word i think so let's be careful hey don't forget one great way to wash is not only the water of the word but also the table of communion tonight at six o'clock we're gonna have the band and uh live online here and they'll be leading worship leading communion and it's going to be glorious it's a great way to just reset and maybe if this sermon reached your heart and you feel like lord i need to reset some of this stuff tonight's a great way to just lock it in with communion intimacy with the lord right there at the table of the lord so that'll be tonight six o'clock join us have your communion elements ready to go at your house you by yourself or or have your whole family with you but let's let's come to the table of the lord together as a church family that's tonight at 6 00 pm well until wednesday night may the lord bless you may you have a wonderful week and and a wonderful prep for thanksgiving and we're all praying for you guys and we'll see you soon god bless you

Channel: Athey Creek

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Id: RczgpjW_QU4

Length: 80min 33sec (4833 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 22 2020