Pastor Lutzer l The Church In Babylon - Sermon 1

what comes to your mind when I mentioned the name Babylon perhaps occultism would come to your mind a certain certainly immorality violence all of those things would be true but the bottom line is one word and that is idolatry babylon known for idolatry that name babylon occurs in the scripture about two hundred times mostly about ancient babylon but also about the babylon of the future perhaps in this series eventually we'll get to that jeremiah the prophet was writing during at the time when the neo-babylonian empire was beginning you see ancient babylon had passed off the scene as a world power but now babylon was being revived and was actually overtaking assyria as the world empire and jeremiah god blessing would actually live to see the destruction of the city of jerusalem the kingdom of judah destroyed solomon's temple in ruins thoroughly and totally destroyed and he would have to be a witness to it all the reason i'm preaching this series of messages is first of all that we might renew and have a better understanding of god if you see God as someone who is tolerant who can put up with any kind of behavior endlessly any kind of behavior on our part your concept of God needs adjustment we're going to see thankfully that he is a God of mercy but he is also a god of great justice we will be overwhelmed by God's hatred of sin let's read the Book of Jeremiah and you can't get over it so one thing is we're going to expand our knowledge of God the second thing that we want to do is to ask the question what does faithfulness look like in a nation that is under judgment because we as an and undoubtedly are under the judgment of God and what does it like for people God's people to live in the midst of that kind of an environment when I began thinking about this project this series of messages initially I was thinking about the time when the Israelites were carried into Babylon and eventually we'll get to that but before we get to that I have a number of messages not entirely sure of the number but a number of messages on this Book of Jeremiah I hope that you bring your Bibles it's so important for you to look at the text can we pray that God by His Spirit might use this series of messages to invigorate us because even though the title is the church in Babylon remember the subtitle is unleashing the power of a spirit filled witness what we want to do is to be strong courageous gracious but uncompromising witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ in a culture that is becoming increasingly hostile to the Christian faith let's pray that it'll be transforming for all of us now open your Bibles Jeremiah chapter one you'll notice that it begins by talking about Josiah the King and then lists other Kings in the first opening verses what is most important for us to realize is that Josa excuse me Jeremiah had a very long ministry over 40 years it began during the days of Josiah the king the young Josiah who began to rule at the age of eight and was a righteous King and then it ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet we're going to see him with tears we're going to look at the book of lamentations eventually in this series where Jeremiah is just unable to function he has so overcome by the tears for his nation do you know what he's going to see he's going to see the people of Judah not only carried off but children starving he's going to see destruction he's going to see King Zedekiah with his eyes gouged out and you know what Jeremiah never sees the revival for which he prayed and preached but he was faithful will discover that whether he saw the revival or not how relevant can you possibly be when you open the book of jeremiah it's all here now you'll notice his call and here I'm jumping to verse 4 of chapter 1 the word of the Lord came to me saying before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you and appointed you a prophet to the nation's I used to read this this way while you were being formed in the womb I knew you and called you and then I looked at it again this week and I realized God says before I formed you in the womb I knew you and you know that word no just doesn't mean no ahead of time it's the word for intimate knowledge God said I already had a relationship with you Jeremiah before you were conceived and we know that because God is God that's an eternity past but you know that that's true of us as well chosen in him from before the foundation of the world if you are a believer today God also knew you before you were born and so it's a sovereign call you know that means that all of the genes the genetic makeup the DNA that Jeremiah would need already came together in such a way that he'd have the gifting of the Prophet so it was sovereign God says I'm the one that has chosen you and you were choosing me only because I chose you in advance it was also a very specific appointed calling notice it says and Jeremiah objection says I'm a youth and God says hey when it comes to my calling doesn't matter whether you're young or old I'm calling you and you're going to command and you're going to speak everything that I tell you to speak and don't be afraid verse 8 for I am with you to deliver you declares the Lord verse 9 the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said to me behold I put my words in your mouth see this day I have set you over the nation's and over the kingdoms to pluck up to break down to destroy to overthrow to build and to plant notice this God says there are going to be four words of judgment for every two words of mercy and grace and when you read the Book of Jeremiah you discover chapter after chapter on judgment that's why we're not going to cover every chapter it is heavy but you should read the book and you'll come across all kinds of figures of speech and references that you might not know a lot about but so much of it is clear as God now unburdens his heart for a people that have left him in fact you know what I'm going to show you the next message in the series that God actually files for divorce he said I can't take it anymore I married you I've been your husband you're unfaithful to me I'm going to divorce court now I'm not going to tell you in advance whether or not God actually went through at that divorce that'll that'll let you know about next time but the people were so unfaithful I just need to unburden my heart and say to you that if you have come to church this more because you want a feel-good message and you want the pastor to say to you you can do anything that you like as long as you have lots of self esteem this is not the series of messages to check in to alright you might have to go to another church at least for a few weeks because this is not Jeremiah but if you want to be here and to deal seriously with sin and repentance and put God on the throne of your life that will permeate all experiences and all of your relationships if you want that this might be exactly the series of messages that God has for you and for me it's a hard message but it's a true message and God wounds us in order that he might heal us well what are some of the characteristics of the idolatry the idolatry that God hates so much [Music] first of all however I noticed that I have lots of material here today and may have to finish this message next time what about the context in which Jeremiah is ministering what was that like it was dark and it was getting darker it was a time of hopelessness let me explain why under Josiah the book of the law was found can you imagine they're cleaning out the temple there is so much garbage there are so many other gods that they brought into the temple that in the middle of cleaning it out they say hey here's part of the book of the law and they begin to read it and they have a revival a problem it was too little too late just like in our country we see pockets of reform here and we see a revival over here but we cannot see a reversal of our situation unless there is a massive in breaking of God in our country and so Jeremiah had that hope but now it was all hopeless let me say also that it was a day of deaf ears oh the people Jeremiah is different from all other prophets we don't know much about Isaiah except what he preached Jeremiah spills out his heart and he's weeping I'll share that with you he is sobbing he argues with God at one point he says God you've deceived me he says you've deceived me because I thought that you were going to give a word of peace and all that this is is a word of judgment he spills out his heart he's thrown into a pit false prophets and by the way that message is coming up in this series false prophets stand against him they condemn him and he has to stand there alone and nobody wants to hear what he has to say even at the end the king sends for him but Jeremiah says I'm not coming because no matter what I say you're gonna go do the opposite anyway that's what kind of a life he lived people didn't want to hear they were deaf there's another historical point that I must make when you read Jeremiah as I hope you will well you keep in mind the difference between Israel and Judah you know after the time of Solomon the kingdom was split and you had the Northern Kingdom which became known as Israel and the capital was Samaria that's where a hab and others ruled the southern kingdom was Judah and the capital was Jerusalem now we use Israel for the whole land see that's the confusion so when you come across Israel you know it's the northern kingdom you know what happened to the northern kingdom about a hundred and thirty years before Jeremiah the northern kingdom was taken and they went off to Assyria we sometimes call them the lost ten tribes though some people think that they aren't lost at all but the northern kingdom was totally destroyed the Assyrians took I think if I remember correctly I didn't look it up about 27,000 people into this area so that kingdom was destroyed Samaritans are came about because there were some Jews left and they were mixed with Assyrians and they were mixed blood so you'd think that they would learn Jeremiah refers to that and says you know your sister your sister Israel look at what happened to her the people said it doesn't matter we're joined to our idols we don't want to hear what you have to say wasn't it Woody Allen who said that history has to repeat itself because we never learned the lessons of history the first time and history does repeat itself these people did not learn and they didn't want to they were joined to idols who wants to hear that you know that preacher of judgment we want the false prophets when I speak about the false prophets I'll tell you what they were saying well what are some of these characteristics of idolatry first of all idolatry is and it was a day of divine judgment you know this is so difficult to preach do you realize that there are passages that all point out in a future messages message where God even says don't pray for the people he says even if Noah were to pray he said I'm not going to relent because judgment is inevitable he says it's like a boat caught in a mighty Niagara River in our imagery and you're going over the falls it's too late now to turn back I don't think America is at that point I pray for America but you realize folks that considering what has happened in the last months and weeks and years who knows whether we can turn it back you say Oh where's the optimism well hang in there's lots of optimism I just can't say everything in the introduction to the series all right now what are some of the characteristics of idolatry it's an exchange of God's you know it says in chapter 2 verse 5 what wrong did your fathers find in me the day they went from me and went to after worthless and things and became worthless what fault was there in me it says in verse 11 of chapter 2 has a nation changed it's God's even though they are no gods for my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit be appalled o heavens at this be shocked be utterly desolate declares the Lord for my people have committed two evils they forsake in me the fountain of living water and hewn out cisterns for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water have you ever drunk from a fresh fountain that's bubbling up with some good water why would you then build a cistern to catch rainwater your cistern leaks it's got cracks the water is there for weeks on end and becomes brackish I think that's the only time I've ever used this word brackish but it fits here you begin to drink it and you gag why would people do that I mean you know you're abandoning the fresh water of God why go for a stream that has such a bad aftertaste well we're gonna hurry on and go to a second characteristic of idolatry that will answer that question you must recognize that idolatry basically is to have a vision of God based upon desire specifically sexual desire have you ever thought of why why does attraction to idols that Israel always has you know they're always running off with some other God and you know whether or not it's Hosea and all these prophets are talking about the fact that on the mountains and the hills they had these shrines what is attractive about that may I ask it's because of the pagan gods bale Babylon Bale the pagan gods were very tolerant when it came to sexuality you know you read this for example in chapter 2 it says verse 24 long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds but you said I will not serve yes on every high hill and under every Green Tree you bowed down like a horror says the very same thing in chapter 3 you can read it there yourself verse 2 and fall you see it was not only spiritual adultery that the people were committing and turning from the living water to the broken cisterns the brackish water but they were sexually immoral and these pagan gods were very tolerant of whatever sexuality you wanted and a problem with that tolerance which offers so much and which promises freedom the problem with that tolerance is it brought so much baggage and when you drink from that fountain you gag because of the guilt and because of the broken relationships and because of the emptiness and because of the sense of destruction of who you are and the self-respect that you should have as a person all of those consequences are huge but the problem is you're bonded to these idols so you keep drinking from the bitter fountains that can hold no water but you keep going back again and again and again you see that's the problem with different views of God I have books in my library where people have totally redefined God in accordance with human desire whatever it is fact there was a book written it just comes to mind as I'm preaching conversations with God by the way did you know that that book was written by a demonic spirit I read it maybe about 10 years ago but the author said that as he was writing a spirit came along and basically dictated it and basically what God said is I am whoever you want me to be well isn't that ever great do you know that it was Huxley who said the reason that we accepted evolution without a lot of proof is because we didn't want a God to interfere with our sexual mores that was Huxley in other words get God off our back so that we can be free but uh the freedom comes with a huge price of bondage and you end up choking on those mountains hmm it's a hard lesson to learn isn't it now the thing is that you remember the story told it maybe ten years ago when you've been here as long as I have you sometimes lose a little bit of track of time about the man who was driving through a farmyard and he noticed that on the barn there were a bunch of targets and right smack in the middle of each target there was an arrow so he stopped to commend the farmer for being such an expert marksman the farmer said what you saw out there wasn't done by me it was done by a village boy who is somewhat mentally challenged he comes out here he shoots arrows into my barn and then he paints the targets around them that's what society does I want to do what I want to do I want to live the way in which I want to live and God will come along and make it all right and agree with me very famous pornographer whose name I will not mention was interviewed and I remember reading the interview in which he says my God doesn't have a problem with what I do you see it used to be when I was younger it used to the bumper sticker said if it feels good do it now the bumper sticker should say if it feels good believe it so what we have is a God who comes along and justifies everything that we want to do third characteristic of idolatry is willful self-deception willful self-deception now here in the text they say for example in verse 23 as they are trying to justify themselves by the way notice in verse 22 you know of course that I am in chapter 2 it says though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap the stain of your guilt is still before me how do you think they're washing themselves they're washing themselves with self-justification they're talking among their friends and they're saying well everybody does it how could this be wrong and so they're trying to cleanse their consciences but it's not working very well how can you say I am NOT unclean I've not gone after the bales look at your way in the valley and know what you have done Restless like a young camel running here and there a wild donkey used in the wilderness inner heat sniffing the wind and you know what the Prophet goes on to say you go out looking for sin it's not just that sin comes to you but you go cruising trying to find it running toward the sin and not away from it that's where your heart really is that's what the prophet happens to be saying Wow and then he says in verse 26 as a thief has shamed when caught so the house of Israel shall be shamed they their kings and so forth I'll tell you what he's saying there and think about this anything that you and I are doing which if it were exposed would be shameful is something that we already know intuitively is wrong you know a boy might be sleeping with his girlfriend totally justified you know because two can live more cheaply than one and yada yada yada yadi and on and on it goes but when he's exposed there is embarrassment and there is shame why because intuitively you know that it's wrong and these people going to the hills and to the mountains and saying that we are worshipping these other gods they knew down deep that they were not able to wash their souls from the stain of guilt where does this leave us a couple of observations quickly first of all would you remember that idolatry that all idols all idols demand worship and Allegiance all idols demanded these pagan gods demand worship they demanded allegiance the people tried to get away from them just occurs to me now remember that a little story about tar-baby trying to get away but it always kept sticking and they always kept coming back they couldn't overcome their addictions you know what they ended up doing they ended up sacrificing their children to the god Molech that's how bad it became because you see once you say we're free from God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all of his laws and all of his traditions and all those things and now we're free to be our own gods you never know where it's going to end up but every God demands allegiance and actually idolatry is not first of all such things that we normally think of it's certainly not the idols out on the fields because we don't have that today but we do have sports and we do have business idols and we do have people whose whole identity is wrapped up with relationships we have women for example who feel that they are totally worthless unless there is a man on their arm that also can be an idol and as a result of that you see whether or not it's money or fame or adulation or being well thought of you know Calvin the great theologian said that the human mind is an idle Factory it's always just generating one idle after another and God has to come along and show those idols to us I may have idols in my life that I am even unaware of but when we are serious with God he begins to show us because he also demands allegiance and the first commandment is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself anything that we love more than God anything that satisfies us more than God is an idol that could be our family it could be something good toad justified but is God first all gods demand allegiance and certainly these gods did second the answer the answer is to return to the Lord now I'm going to jump to chapter 3 and obviously in this series we are not going to be going verse by verse but chapter 3 verse 12 for example return faithless Israel declares the Lord I will not look on you in anger for I am merciful I will not be angry forever only acknowledge your guilt that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among the foreigners every under under every green tree and that you've not obeyed my voice return o faithless children for I am your master God says to you and to me today return return even with your idols because they're too strong for you to deal with but the Bible says in Thessalonians that we turn to God from idols in other words God doesn't say leave your idols behind and come to me how do you tell somebody addicted to an idol leave it behind and come to me no you come with your idol but you come to God to know that he's the one to forgive you and to deliver you and bring you hope and bring you back to the satisfying fountain but you come to God seriously with your idols you know this past Friday night Rebecca and I were at a banquet some of you perhaps were there were dr. ben Carson spoke he is one of the most famous surgeons in America can you imagine at the age of 33 he actually is head of the Nero surgical hope I pronounced that correctly unit at Johns Hopkins University he's the first man to take two twins joined at the head and successfully separate them what a remarkable man he actually has the gift of I and coordination that is unusual he also can think in three dimensions I have no idea what that is bill do you have any idea as to what it is to think in three dimensions I think for most of us one is about all we can handle but as a teenager growing up in poverty he was angry you know he actually said he took a hammer to hit his mother and his brother grabbed the hammer as it was held up at the back of Ben and then he was going to take a knife and put it into one of his friends but the knife hit the friends belt and as he began to think about it he said anger is going to destroy me he said he went into the bathroom was there for three hours reading the scripture confessing to God seeking God regarding anger and according to his testimony and if you were there when he left the bathroom that was the end of his anger God did it up right which is very important if you're a surgeon working on somebody for 18 hours as he has done it's also important that because he's getting a lot of criticism now because he said some things that were politically incorrect and one of the things that Saul Alinsky who wrote that book radicals to help people and community organizers say that you have to demonize your opposition because then when you demonize them they'll say something that looks very stupid and you'll get them and according to Ben Carson and that actually is what he was talking about he referenced Saul Alinsky according to him when all of this criticism comes when the Boston Globe said that he was speaking to a hate group for example he doesn't even have to reply he's totally at peace because anger has been taken away anger can become an idle getting even with somebody can mean more to us than God I know somebody who said I'll never get right with God until these Christians make things right with me that is idolatry yes the Christians if they wronged you should make things right but even if they don't are you telling me that your justification is more important to you than your relationship with God and you're blowing God off until somebody comes and apologizes clearly God has second place idolatry is deep it is abiding it has many many different idols and God says I want in your heart that there be an altar and that you bow before that altar and the only altar before you bow is me the Lord your God your Redeemer that's what God is after in our lives want to conclude with a word of hope here the sale pastor Luther you're painting such a dismal picture I mean you know Judah going downhill looks a lot like America that we don't want to overplay the relationship what about Jeremiah young man called God calls them listen God calls you and me for this moment of history too but now you're back to chapter 1 I want to show you something chapter 1 verse 17 this is what God said to this young prophet who was objecting to his call chapter 1 verse 17 and thank you for turning to it the rustling of biblical pages makes me very happy up here I hope I hear them often but you dress yourself for work arise say to them everything that I command you don't be dismayed by them lest I dismay you before them Wow you'd better respond to the call and behold I make you this day a fortified city an iron pillar a bronze walls against the whole land against the kings of Judah so officials its priests and the people of the land they will fight against you but they will not prevail against you because I am with you declares the Lord I read and I say oh when did God make Jeremiah a fortified city an iron pillar and bronze walls he made him that before he went to work that day he said get ready put on your clothes you're gonna go to work you're gonna represent me but I'm not saying now Jeremiah go out there and be a fortified city be a bronze pillar be whatever no excuse me God says I have already made you that I pre-qualified you to walk in victory the God who calls you to this moment of history is the God who supplies what you need at this moment of history the God who calls you for this moment and calls me for this moment gives to us all we need to walk in victory he doesn't abandon us he is with us and one of the ways in which he strengthens us is by God's people because when Jesus died on the cross his death was so sufficient he says not only is it proof that I love you but I forgive you I receive you you are mine come on to me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest you come to me the true fountain come to me and drink be done with a bitter streams that make you choke in the end you come to me and I invite you to do that if you've never received Christ as your Savior I invite you to do that if you're a believer and you're not walking with God finally get rid of those idols and bow before the sovereign Lord and say I shall serve Him only no matter the cost father we ask that even as we will be participating in a moment in your table as a reminder that Jesus died for us help us to realize that in light of the fact that he did all that for us O Lord God we give ourselves to you today without a reservation expose the idols that we might with one heart and one mind serve you in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Moody Church Media

Views: 4,435

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Keywords: Erwin Lutzer, Pastor Lutzer, Christian Living, Moody Church Hour, Running To Win, Light in the Dark, Jeremiah, Judah, Old Testament, Bible, Church in Babylon, Babylon, Pagan, Religion, Jesus Christ, God

Id: hb0cVMir2N4

Length: 35min 9sec (2109 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 18 2018