Jeremiah 46:1-28 "The Vengeance of the Lord"

let's turn together in God's Word to Jeremiah 46 Jeremiah 46 as we look at verses 1 through 28 Jeremiah 46 verse 1 through 28 Jeremiah 46 beginning in verse 1 where God words Rees as follows the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the Prophet concerning the nations about Egypt concerning the army of pharaoh nico king of egypt which is by the river Euphrates at car kamesh and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah prepare buckler and shield and advance for battle harness the horses mount a horse Minh take your stations with your helmets polish your spears put on your armor why have I seen it they are dismayed and have turned backward their warriors are beaten down and have fled and haste they look not back terror on every side declares the Lord the Swift cannot flee nor the warrior escape in the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen who is this rising like the Nile like rivers whose waters searched Egypt Rises like the Nile like rivers whose waters surged he said I will rise I will cover the earth I will destroy cities and their inhabitants advance o horses and rage a chariot that the Warriors go out the men of cush and put who handle the shield men of Lud's skilled in handling the boat that day is the day of the Lord God of hosts a day of vengeance to avenge himself on his foes the sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood for the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice in the North Country by the river Euphrates go up to Gilead and take balm Oh Virgin daughter of Egypt in vain you have used many medicines there is no healing for you the nations have heard of your shame and the earth is full of your cry for a warrior has stumbled against warrior they have both fallen together the word that the Lord spoke to Jeremy by the Prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdal proclaim in Memphis and Tapan 'yes say stand ready and be prepared for the sword shall devour around you why are your mighty ones facedown they do not stand because the Lord thrust them down he made many stumble and they fell and they said to one another arise and let us go back to our own people and to the land of our birth because of the sword of the oppressor call the name of pharaoh king of egypt noisy one who lets the hour go by as i live declares the lord whose name is the lord of hosts like tame or among the mountains and like carmel-by-the-sea shall one come prepare yourselves baggage for exile o inhabitants of Egypt for Memphis shall become a waste a ruin without inhabitant a beautiful heifer is Egypt but abiding fly from the north has come upon her even her hired soldiers in her midst are like fattened calves yes they have turned and fled together they did not stand for the day of their calamity has come upon them the time of their punishment she makes a sound like a serpent gliding away for her enemies March in force and come against her with axes like those who felled trees they shall cut down her forests declares the Lord though it is impenetrable because they are more numerous than locusts they are without number the daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame she shall be delivered into the hand of the people from the north the Lord of hosts the God of Israel said behold I am bringing punishment upon Aman of Thebes and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her Kings upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old declares the Lord but fear not o Jacob My servants nor be dismayed o Israel for behold I will save you from faraway and your offspring from the land of their captivity Jacobs shall return and have quiet and ease and none shall make him afraid fear not o Jacob my servant declares the Lord for I am with you I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you but of you I will not make a full end I will discipline you and just measure and I will by no means leave you unpunished so far the reading from God's Word this evening that he had is blessing to our hearts there are so many stories that we enjoy that our vengeance stories write stories where a sense of human justice makes you long that the wronged one would get even with the villains in many cases as we're reading those kinds of stories were even too willing to overlook the great sins of the hero if only the antihero would get his just deserts the problem of course with these stories is that their accounts of human vengeance and human vengeance is always tainted with sin is always tainted with injustice but in this account we're dealing with God's vengeance and God's vengeance is always pure here we see God's vengeance in all its purity leveled against Egypt and what we learned from this chapter in the Book of Jeremiah is that God's burning hatred of sin is seen in his judgment on Egypt but his mercy rests on Israel and to learn that lesson we're going to look at the presumption of the wicked in verses 1 through 4 we're going to look at the vengeance of the Lord in verses 5 through 26 and we're gonna look at the salvation of the righteous in verses 27 and 28 so we want to see God's burning hatred of sin is seen in his judgments on Egypt but his mercy is seen in Israel we're gonna look at the presumption of the wicked the Vengeance of the Lord and the salvation of the righteous so let's begin by looking at the presumption on the wicked when we come to chapter 46 of Jeremiah we're entering into a new section of the of the book so chapter 45 up to that point we've had a back-and-forth of historical narratives not necessarily chronological but certainly historical narratives now from chapter 46 to chapter 51 we we read the end of it this evening in our in our earlier reading we're gonna read a section where there are many judgments against foreign nations Jeremiah is going to focus on the judgments of the Lord against many nations beginning with Egypt and ending with Babylon and the last chapter of the book will be an account of the fall of Jerusalem but but we're in a section where there's a we're on a certain bookshelf with book ends right on the one on the one end we have Egypt and on the other we have have Babylon and the judgments of God against these nations are going to be declared by the Prophet it's interesting of course because Egypt is the nation out of which Israel came to enter into the Promised Land that's the first nation that's dealt with in Jeremiah's prophecy the last nation Babylon is the nation that carried them out of the land of promise which they took possession of after they exited they had the exodus out of out of Egypt so here we come to these two nations Egypt and Babylon both of whom were agents of God used to carry out the Lord's purposes and Egypt is such an agent Egypt was used by God it is the the land in which God gave refuge to Jacob and his family way back in in Genesis as they fled from the famine that was that was in Canaan but it's also the nation that God sets apart to be a special picture of his wrath as it's recorded in Romans 9 in verse 17 you have the the nation of Egypt as a I said as a picture of God's wrath resting on the people of his choosing there is God's blessing resting on the people of Israel the nation of his choosing but also Egypt and Pharaoh being an example of a nation set apart so that they would be that through their rebellion God's power would be displayed and his name would be proclaimed the land of Egypt would be used to to prefigure what what Christ does in in delivering us from our sin just as he leads Israel out of Egypt out of the house of slavery so also he leads us out of our slavery to sin through the work of Christ and and so here today we we're looking at that Egypt this instrument used by the hand of the Lord instruments used but today we're going to see that they're that they are a nation of sinners that that though they are instruments of God that yet their sin against the Lord is is remembered by him Egypt is a is a nation that's been given much power by the Lord they were a military power for from for centuries in in that region but the problem with Egypt was that throughout their military might they never turned to the Lord and never sought after the Lord they do not look to the Lord as they used the power that he had given to them they they live their lives thinking that their strength is their own not thinking of anyone else when it comes to how they use their might and so when we're looking at the presumption of the wicked and verses 1 through 4 you you see that in verses 3 and 4 where it's almost like you're hearing a snippet of the officers of the Egyptian army getting their troops ready for battle and and there's a presumption about about their their commands they're just getting ready for war using the buckler and the shield to advance and battle their their horses and their their horsemen their spears and and there are more presuming on the victory that they may or may not be given you see Egypt is doing what it has been doing for centuries for centuries the Egyptian armies have have conquered others but but now we see them doing what they want to do without thinking about God at all they trust in their and their military might for success their presumption is that the ways of the past will continue in the present that's a description of a life lived without reference to God that's the the description of a life of a person who doesn't even consider God in the things that he does there's there's not any seeking the face of the Lord in prayer there's not any Express of gratitude to the Lord for the way he has preserved them over their centuries there's not any recognition that they that the things that they have received they've received not from their own strength but but from from God and that's of course the false confidence of the wicked the wicked think that way god of course can turn their fortunes on a dime but but they're not thinking about those things they're thinking presuming that things will continue as they always have now that's true for Egypt that's also true for us here in the United States of America and for for individuals within our country we have this same weakness as well this is weakness of presumption that God's grace will continue it's not just a principle that's applied to Nations it's a principle that rests on individuals as well it's applied to men and and women and children who are prayerless who never think of the blessings that that God brings their way and and you see Jesus teaching that very very thing in in Luke 12 beginning in in verse 16 this this parable of the rich fool this man who who enjoyed blessings from the Lord abundant crops and and remember he says he's going to tear down his barns and build himself bigger ones presuming that all this wealth that he is accumulating will continue and what does what does God say to him in verse 20 fool this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared whose will they be so you see that the presumption of man can quickly come to an end as the Lord interferes and intervenes in his plans and in his his life the God who isn't acknowledged by the presumptuous fool he's still present the God who isn't afraid to the God who hasn't thanked he's still there he is still sovereign over the lives of the people who are presumptions whether they be individuals or whether they be nations and so here in the case of of Egypt God is punishing them for their presumption and we see God's punishment in a large chunk this chapter in verses 5 through 26 as we have a description of the vengeance of the Lord against the Egyptians because Egypt doesn't turn to the Lord God's judgment therefore falls on them now this is different than the judgment that God visits on Israel which we'll see because the judgment of Egypt isn't a paternal discipline is not a paternal care for for children who have been disobedience against the instruction of their parents this is not a correction of sin with the aim of restoration and sanctification what what's described instead is a it's a slaughter it's given several names in this chapter in verse 10 we see it described as a day of vengeance and in verse 21 we see it described as a day of calamity and as a time of punishment and so God is is bringing his vengeance against the people of Egypt and the violence from the Lord against Egypt is unmistakable and in some sense it's kind of it's almost difficult to read the ways in which God describes what he will do to the Egyptians in verse 10 as he introduces this day of vengeance he says the sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of blood it's a it's a it's an ugly picture it's a picture of blood thirst almost it speaks of this sword which won't be satisfied it will drink its fill of blood in verse 14 it says that this sword will devour that the mighty of warriors of Egypt will lie facedown meaning that they are slain meaning that life has passed from them that they are dead it says in verse 16 that they will stumble and fall in and that God is the one who will make them stumble and fall in verse 23 it says that God will make them desolate in verse 24 it says that God will put them to shame this is the vengeance the violence of the Lord against the the people of Egypt and none of it is expected by them they're living their lives assuming that everything is going to be the same tomorrow as it is today as it was yesterday but they are the enemies of God and God is avenging himself on his foes now God's vengeance isn't like our vengeance when somebody wrongs you when when somebody sins against you and when somebody hurts you you can be tempted to have thoughts of a vengeance and when we have thoughts of vengeance we we basically want the people who hurt us hurt as we have been hurt we want them to suffer like we have suffered plus a little bit more that would be nice if they could suffer a little bit more than we have suffered and our feelings of vengeance in that sense are always sinful they're not they're not based around the glory of God they're based around a response or reaction to our our experience our circumstances and how we feel about them but but God's vengeance isn't like that our our vengeance isn't pure it's not a it's not a holy vengeance but the Vengeance of the Lord is different the day of the Lord's vengeance is pure he's punishing Egypt Egypt a nation of idolaters how long has a gypped worshipped false gods instead of the god of Scripture for centuries for centuries Egypt has practiced idolatry they have they have not worshiped the Lord they have not sought him they have not cried out to him they have not confessed sin to him and in the Lord's economy of how things work that's a problem that's called idolatry and it's deserving of his wrath and of his curse now in our day we live in a we live in a system of religious pluralism and religious pluralism basically says you worship your God and you worship your God and you worship your God and we just leave each other alone as long as we're not hurting each other's feelings about it in most cases of course except if you're worshiping the Christian God then religious pluralism isn't acceptable anymore but in religious pluralism we accept all gods I'll worship my god and and everything is going to be okay and you worship your God but the god of scripture is not a religious pluralist the god of scripture isn't one who says you worship your God and you worship your God and you guys over here the Israelites you worship me God doesn't speak that way God isn't a religious pluralists in heaven religious pluralism will not be permitted there is no space for all the other religions in heaven the other religions will have their own space but it will be away from the presence of God in hell and that's not a statement of pride it's not that's not a Christian saying I'm better than everybody else that's the Word of God recorded written down by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that's simply report reporting the facts of Scripture the Bible says that that all who sin against God who who do not turn from their sin who who do not seek their protection in him will suffer as the Egyptians will suffer you see the world isn't condemned because of ignorance their presumption isn't the main cause of their condemnation but their presumption is in evidence of the state of their hearts see the presumption of the Egyptians is that is the fruit is the fruit of the reality that they don't acknowledge God it's it's an evidence that the Lord isn't their Gotha they serve someone else they have they have replaced the Creator with images of the creatures and have prostrate prostrated themselves before the creatures instead so that is the presumption that is the root of the sin of the people of Egypt they have blaspheme the name of God Almighty they have filled to worship the one true God in any sense of the word and so Egypt faces God's vengeance over their sin no this chapter where there's so much of the destruction of Egypt and the picture is is quite heavy at times in this chapter we see the great weight of sin this chapter this chapter keeps us from ever saying that God doesn't care about sin that God doesn't think idolatry isn't a big deal that God is it's just an an easygoing God in the sky God God loves his creation which is established through common grace he he gives his reign to the righteous and to the unrighteous but God hates sin more one day the patience of God will expire in and the judgment will rest on all those who have not worshipped him sin is is rebellion against the triune God and there's only one response for sin it is the Justice of God the Justice of God must be applied against sin and when we read of the Justice of God in Scripture the Justice of God is never just a slap on the wrist when we read of the Justice of God it's it's always this kind of a description terror for the unbeliever poured out against him you see in some sense Egypt is really at death's door as a nation God is about to destroy them and and in Hebrews 9 it tells us that it's left for us to die once and then to face the judgment of God well Egypt is is about to die as a nation they're about to face the judgment of God as a nation what is still a future for you and me we're not on death's doorstep right now as far as we know we don't know what the future holds but we all seem fairly healthy at this point we're not a deaf store now so what's future for us is a present reality for Egypt they're they're about to die and and face that judgment of God they face the the day of the Lord as it's described in Scripture this this day of his judgment and and they will stand before him without a mediator Egypt has rejected the need of Christ and and so they stand before God with without a meet they're they're summoned without a substitute into God's courtroom and so in in that sense what we read here about Egypt is a is a shadow it's a shadow of of what will happen on the the the day of the Lord the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ their God will will take vengeance on his enemies on that day as well his vengeance will look somewhat like what happened to Egypt except it will be intensified because there will be an eternity about it in in Hebrews 10 we talked about how it's left for everyone to die and then face the judgment of God that's why in invert in Hebrews 10 verse 31 that whole understanding of facing God without a mediator is is is drawn out for us it says there it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God this is the truth if you stand before God without a mediator if you stand before God without a substitute is a fearful thing to be in his presence because God hates your sin because God will punish disobedience against him because there is a legal debt that you owe against him because of your sin and that that is what elicits the Vengeance of the Lord also against the Egyptians but something future for us to consider as well but this chapter is not a chapter that leaves us entirely without hope as we see in the last two verses the salvation of the righteous promised there is hope extended in this chapter this chapter distinguishes between God's enemies and his people there is sin in both both God's people and in the nations all around and and Egypt should be dismayed though they're not completely destroyed and in verse 26 we we we read that Egypt shall be inhabited later on as in the days of old according to the Lord's decree so they're not going to be completely destroyed but they're there their final judgment is simply delayed now Israel in this chapter has already faced God's discipline but it's of a it's of a different sort where the people of Egypt should fear because they face the judgment of God the judgment against Israel is of a different kind in verse 27 God begins his address of the people of Israel by saying fear not whatever overwhelming terror might come against the Egyptians the the first words from the Lord in this chapter of judgment for for Jacob are to not be afraid he instills calm for them Pharaoh has punished Israel as disciplined Pharaoh is in dismay but Israel should not fear there is a distinction between the people of God and and the other nations there's a there's a difference between the discipline of Jacob and the and the punishment of Egypt what happened in Egypt was an act of vengeance an act of calamity but what happened to Israel was an an act of discipline an act of a father to a child God's action against Egypt is a it's a permanent judgment in verse 28 God says that even he will make a full end of all the nations but God in sending Israel away is temporary it's going to be reversed God the Lord will bring them back and in verse 28 he says of Israel that he will not make a full end of them so we see backslidden Israel Israel overrun with sin backslidden Israel is is hard-pressed but but she is also still protected she is in agony because of the discipline of the Lord but the Lord knows where she is the Lord will call her back the Lord may seem to be far away but he knows where Israel is he he knows where to find them he knows he is telling him even in their difficult condition that they need not be afraid he will punishment that punish them for their sin but he will still bring them back again and so we see this distinction between the people of God and the nation's all around and as we look at this chapter of vengeance and this promise for the people of God at the end there there are two things that I want us to consider as a congregation the first thing that we should consider is that there is hope for the backslidden Christian a backslidden Christian is a curse who is overwhelmed by sin they have neglected the the the means of grace that God has given to them perhaps or perhaps God has brought Circa in certain circumstances into their lives they have fallen into great sin and and they are in City in a sense entrapped by that sin but there is hope for the backslidden Christian one of the foundational pillars of the reformed understanding of our salvation is that the Saints will be preserved they will persevere maybe you're here tonight and maybe maybe you're struggling because of because of your sin I don't I can't see what's going on in in your heart are you are you engaged in in willful stubborn sin like like Israel maybe it's maybe it's sin that only you know about well then my brother's sister if that's true of you then then you are a backslidden Christian you are grieving the Holy Spirit you are you are displeasing your God now do you feel the discipline of the Lord because of your sin do you feel the hand of the Lord weighing on you the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints isn't incompatible with a doctrine of Christians who are backslidden in the Westminster Confession of faith in the 17th chapters a chapter on the perseverance of the saints this this glorious doctrine that says that that God will preserve his children to the end but in the third paragraph of that chapter there's an affirmation that though you never fully fall away from the faith if you are in Christ that's Satan and the world and the corruption of your flesh can lure you away into Grievous sins God will discipline you in those sins and and maybe that's what you're feeling today maybe you're feeling the discipline of the Lord if you are a backslidden Christian facing the discipline of the Lord I would I would warn you brace yourself it could become much worse but attached to the discipline of the child of God is that promise of restoration that promise that's contained here in Jeremiah at the end I will not make a full end of you the Christian is disciplined for you sin but it's it's not an eternal punishment it's not an act of vengeance by God Almighty it's a it's the discipline that God presses on you so that you would repent so that you would turn to him so that you would be restored to him it drives you away from your sin if you are a backslidden man or woman boy or girl today I would encourage you to heed the discipline of the Lord don't harden your heart to your sin don't say my sin doesn't matter allow your conscience to be soft do not allow your conscience to be wounded by persisting in sin do not hurt do not scandalize those who are around you in Christ because you are in Christ you are offered a return you're offered to return through repentance it's a picture that Jesus gives us in Scripture isn't it of what happens when we're back slidden and how we are welcomed back into our father's house that parable of the prodigal son the son who squanders his father's inheritance and in loose living and realizes the the discipline of the circumstances on him and he and he decides to return to his father's house he's he thinks I'm not good enough to be my father's servant anymore you know it's the the reality of that account is he's right he doesn't deserve even a place in his father's house as a servants but when he returns to his father what does his father do his father doesn't treat him like a servant he treats him like a Sonny he runs out to meet him he embraces him he has a feast for him backslidden Christian that's that's how your father feels about you that's how your father in heaven will celebrate your return to Him in in repentance so there's hope for you as a as a backslidden Christian just as there was hope for Israel here at the end of of this of this chapter but the second thing that we learned from this chapter is that we should not think of sin lightly now it doesn't matter if you're backslidden or not your view of sin should match God's view of sin and when God sees sin all sin he hates it with a holy hatred you see when a creature sins the creature besmirches the name of the Creator and this chapter shows us something of God's response to send God is gracious in his word he he gives us a tangible expression that we can kind of get our minds wrapped around a little bit that tell us how he thinks of sin this day of vengeance against Egypt that's how God thinks of sin this picture of a sword that can't be satisfied that that that is sated in blood this this this sword of vengeance of the Lord against idolatrous Egypt that's a picture of how God responds to sin now his response to sin has much more gravity than ours often does isn't that right I mean I'm not talking about other people's sins we usually recognize the gravity of other people's sins were we're pretty good at recognizes of recognizing other people's sins but is our assessment of our sin does it match God's assessment of our sin you know the way that he views the sins of Egypt if you are not in Christ that's how he views your sin as well the only difference between your sin if you are in Christ and the sin of the unbeliever who is not in Christ is that your sins in Christ have been placed on Christ the agony of Christ on the cross was for your sin that was the day of the vengeance of the Lord for your sin poured out on another that is the hatred that God has for sin he hates it so much that he would send his own son to bear the punishment of it so that you would be from the guilt of it so we must see the heavy weight associated with sin we must we must feel it we must we must see the reaction that God has to sin and it should make us tremble with fear we should never deal with sin as if it's inconsequential we should always know that the wrath and vengeance of God that has visited on the sins of man but God also gives a way to relieve the burden of sin in Jesus Christ his work makes us free from sin by by faith free from the Dominion of sin because God sets you free free from the guilt of sin because Christ died for your sins that's that's not a small event it caused our our Savior to sweat drops of blood as he anticipated the cross he did that because of of your sin he anticipated the suffering for the sins of his people and he was in agony over the punishment and vengeance of the Father that he would fall that would fall on him in in their place so don't take that lightly don't think that God doesn't care about your sin every once in a while let that wash over you let that thought wash over you as you realize what God did because of your sin because of my sin let it be used to train us to hate sin with a holy hatred to hate sin as God hates sin you see the violence of God towards sin should be terrifying for us we should not misunderstand it many respond to God's vengeance over sin and they say to themselves and they say to others that that's not fair how could God be so cruel how could God be so bloodthirsty but beloved of the Lord God is the master of this world he spoke it and it became he has made it because he made it he creates the rules as well and what God has established from the beginning which he told to Adam in the Garden of Eden very clearly all whose sin will surely die that's what God has declared from the beginning and when Adam and Eve failed the second part came into this world all who come to Christ by faith will be spared because we have all sinned in Adam we all deserve to die and the second part is a glorious promise all who come to the Lord God through Christ by faith in Him will be spared so what does this chapter teach us to leave behind the evil of sin to flee the terror of God's wrath and to behold his mercy in Christ to return to the Lord even as he invites you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation his mercy his salvation that is the very solution to the agony of sin it is the very solution to the terror of God's vengeance it is the very thing that will return you into his warm embrace as you find rescue from the guilt of your sin in the salvation of Christ let's pray together

Channel: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church

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Keywords: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church, bible, sermon, reformed theology, family integrated worship, preaching, augusta, presbyterian, Theology (Field Of Study), Religion (TV Genre), Pastor, repentance, Old Testament (Religious Text), jeremiah, reformation, idolatry, God's covenant, the gospel

Id: ZtUZKKigf74

Length: 37min 18sec (2238 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 14 2019