Jeremiah 9:17-26

Hey, hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions. This morning we are at Jeremiah chapter 9 beginning at verse, let's see, verse 16, no 17, verse 17. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll see. I wonder how people respond to God's declaration of judgment. We'll have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll see if that question is answered. Let's pray. Oh God, you are a faithful and good God. You give us your word and is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. And so, Father, we pray that you would please help us to understand your word. We pray that we would know how it is to be applied to our lives. We pray that your Holy Spirit would indeed not let your your word return void. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen. Here you go. Jeremiah chapter 9 beginning at verse 17. Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Consider and call for the mourning women," mourning as in grieving women, that they may come and send us skillful wailing women that they may come. Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us that our eyes may run with tears and our eyelids gush with water. For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion. How we are plundered. We are greatly ashamed because we have forsaken the land because we have been cast out of our dwellings. Yet hear the word of the Lord, oh women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing and let everyone her neighbor a lamentation for death has come through our windows has entered our palaces to kill off the children no longer be outside and the young men no longer on the streets speak thus says the Lord even the carcass of men shall fall as refu on the open field like cutings after the harvester, and no one shall gather them. Thus says the Lord, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him who glory glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am Yhovah, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised, Egyptian, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the furthest corners who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart." Well, we need to ask our three questions. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So, A, what is this about? Well, in this first part, verses 17-9, uh, we have God doing something that's a little bit odd in our culture. In Israelite culture during this time, you would hire professional mourers to come to a graveside, to come and to weep and to wail. and their professional lamentations, their professional wailing, their prof professional tears would provoke others into this sense of of sorrow and serious grieving. And so as they are doing this, God is telling them, "Wail." But what are they to whail for? Well, they're to whail not for the death of someone, but they're wailing for us. They're willing because we have forsaken the land. We have been cut out of our dwellings. We are greatly ashamed. We are plundered there. This is a prefiguring of the lamentation that was going to come after the fall of Jerusalem. And there's some pretty ugly and serious stuff that happens here. And he says, "You're hear the word of the Lord, oh women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth." And they're to teach them this, right? And their wailings to be that death has come through the windows. The children are going to be killed. The young men can't go out on the street. He says the the men, they're going to be like when when there's there's combines out where we are and when they harvest the beans, the backside of the beans, the combine blows out all the chaff. And you if you're running or walking or riding your bike or something down the road and and you go by a combine, they'll often shut down the machine as they see you coming sometimes because they don't want to they don't want to dust you because I mean it could choke you out and and God is saying here like the chaff that's just being thrown out right as they're harvesting and the sickles going and picking it up and tossing in. There's all sorts of just just rubbish getting thrown on the ground. He says that's what the lives of men are going to be like. They're going to be like we got a pasture by our house where the cows leave their manure patties. That's what it's going to be like with the dead men. And this isn't just idle things. The Lord is saying we'll eventually someday get to lamentations. And Jeremiah says it does actually happen like that. It's it's a hellish nightmarish type type scene. And so he says instruction in verse 24, if you're wise, don't glory in your wisdom. If you're mighty, don't glory in your might. Don't glory in your strength. If you think you're rich, don't glory in your riches. But we should glory in something else. We should glory and that we understand and know God. But what is the Lord glowing? What is the Lord like? What is he gloring in? What does he delight in? Sadikim said righteousness, judgments and longsuffering, love and kindness, graciousness. The Lord is exercising love and kindness, judgments and righteousness in the earth. He delights in them. The Lord loves righteousness. The Lord loves covenant mercy. The Lord loves right judgment. That's what he delights in. He says he's punishing. He's punishing all sorts of nations for their sins. And he calls them uncircumcised. But notice here who he calls uncircumcised. Egypt, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab. But notice in that list in verse 26, I skipped over a name, Judah. He says Judah because he knows that they're uncircumcised in their hearts. They may have the covenant sign applied to them physically, but he's saying to Jeremiah and through Jeremiah, they don't really know me. They may be physically Israel, but they are not spiritually Israel. They're far away from me. They aren't gloring in me. They're gloring in their strength. They're gloring in their riches. their glory and their wisdom, but not in righteousness, not in loving kindness, not in right judgments, not in me. They're not taking delight in me and what I delight in, but they're following like Deborah and I talked about last time. They're following in their own hearts, going after the way of the bales, just as their fathers taught them. So it's a section about God is talking about lamenting giving a lament for sin. What's the best verse one? Verse I have verse 24 underlined all over the place in my Bible. Maybe you would have underlined something else. Feel free to let me know. Write down in the comments. The last sea calling. What are we called to do? Do we love? Do we delight in the Lord? Do we delight in his righteousness? Do we delight in his judgments? Do we delight in his loving kindness? Do we cling to his covenant mercies? Do we see him as our king of kings, our lord of lords? And do we seek him and desire to be faithful citizens of his kingdom? This is why he redeemed us out of the kingdom of darkness and brought us into his marvelous light. Not to wallow in our sins, but to walk in his ways. To know him, to delight in him, and to delight in all he delights in. to change our hearts away from the saver of death and become fault and lights in this world and dying and corrupt generation. So I need to ask you, have you been circumcised in your heart? Have you truly surrendered your life unto the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you trust him alone for salvation? Do you hope in him alone? And do you delight to do what he has told you? The beautiful thing. And we could do it because he's in us, not perfectly, but there is a heavenly kingdom, an inheritance in store for us in heaven to delight in him forever. Let's pray. God, we confess to you. We are so often unfaithful servants. Lord, we believe, but our belief is so often mingled with disbelief and lack of assurance. Please help us and forgive us. Lord, it's so easy for us to think of ourselves as so wise and yet you see our folly. Lord, it's so easy to overestimate ourselves and think ourselves as strong, but you know our weakness. God, please help us. Lord, we pray that you would please teach us to walk in your ways. We pray that we would delight in you always and at all times and all places. Please, Lord, help us walk in your ways and teach us to love you more and more. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. And I'll see you next time. Bye.