Well, it's again been a joy and
a privilege for myself and my wife to be among you all. Um, years ago, when when I first
met Joe and we had him down and then when I came up here,
we're on the same side as the Mississippi as you all and doesn't
seem like anybody wants to cross that that area. They just stay
over there. And I thought we were in the
boonies. And then I heard of Rock Valley,
Iowa. And I didn't think we'd ever
get here. And if you come here, you come here on purpose. You
don't just fall into Rock Valley. So I thought we were out of the
way. We're not out of the way like
this. But it doesn't matter. Wherever
the Lord's people gather together, What a joy, what an incredible
privilege we have. And I was saying something, I
don't even remember where it was at, but when you look at
the tabernacle and the tent of meetings in that place, And then
you step back, you know, like the forest for the trees, you
start stepping back and you look at that country, that county
or whatever you want to say, that country that that place
was in. And then you step back and then you get the Middle East
and then you step back and you get Asia and then you step back
and you keep stepping back. That's where the gospel was revealed. And in here in Rock Valley and
in Jackson, Missouri, I think about that. The Lord has a church,
a body of believers. And you look at that and it gets
discouraging sometimes when things don't go the way as pastors would
like them to go. And we get stale and we get stagnant
pastors. And I this thing of preaching,
it's very difficult. It's and the flesh is ever present
pride. My, my, my. But I think about
this place and I think about the places that the Lord has
his churches in our place, particularly the town of Jackson, it's about
15,000. The counties, 80,000. The state, millions. The country. And you keep going
back and going back. There's a place where the gospel
is preached because it's not preached everywhere. And it certainly
is not believed everywhere. I was talking to Eric, we have
an older gentleman that's, I believe he's 80 something years old,
I believe he's come to a knowledge of the gospel. And he is battling
his wife and battling his daughter they despise. And this has just
come about recently. They just despise what he's hearing
and they try to get him not to come. He drives an hour, hour
and a half or he's driven. He comes over with another person
who drives that far. And I just told him, I said,
just just persevere, just keep looking to Christ. No different
for you, no different for me, whether you're new in the faith
or whether you're old in the faith. We look to Christ. So I thank
Joe and Bonnie and their hospitality. I thank you all for your hospitality.
And I thank the Lord for Joe and his faithfulness. I don't know how many times you
wanted to quit, but it's crossed my mind a few times. But let
us turn to Jeremiah chapter nine for our use and edification this
morning in the passage of scripture. I've entitled this message, Don't
Glory, But Glory. Don't Glory, But Glory. We're going to peruse this ninth
chapter and we're going to behold basically, I got two divisions. The first 22 verses, we see the
total depravity of us or the depravity of man. And then in
verse 23 and 24, which is the main part of my text, we see
the glory of God in His loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness. Let's just peruse a little bit
in Jeremiah 9. We'll start looking
in verse 2. Oh, this is the prophet, the
weeping prophet, oh that I had in the wilderness, a lodging
place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go
from them, for they be all adulterers and an assembly of treacherous
men. They bend their tongues like
their bow for lies, but they are not valid. For the truth
upon the earth, for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know
not me, saith the Lord. Take ye heed, verse four, every
one of his neighbor, and trust not in his brother, for every
brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk
with slanders. They, verse five, will deceive
every one his neighbor and will not speak the truth. They have
taught their tongue to speak lies and weary themselves to
commit iniquity. And I could read verse six and
verse seven and verse eight and go on and on and show the utter
depravity, the sinfulness of sin of who we are by nature,
by birth and by practice. But lest we get haughty and look
down upon our neighbor, and I'm thankful that I have decent neighbors,
They don't understand the gospel, but at least they're kind and
friendly. The Lord could just withdraw his grace, or he could
withdraw his kindness, and this world would be much worse than
it is already. But unless we get self-righteous and look down,
because that's the tendency of the flesh, look with me back
at verse one. Jeremiah says, oh, that my head
were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day
and night for the slaying of the daughter of my people." We
do not have one excuse in the word to treat people with contempt,
to treat people in a rough, demeaning, degrading sort of way, but we
need to take the example of our Our brother, Jeremiah. Or what
about our Lord, Jesus Christ? Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. What about Paul? I could wish
myself accursed from Christ for my kinsmen according to the flesh. So this shows us that self-righteousness,
even though it has a foothold, has no place under the gospel
economy. So to me, a good parallel passage
to the Jeremiah 9, the first 22 verses is Romans 3. And I
know you're familiar with that. Romans chapter 3, a good parallel
passage. And we note in these two passages,
the sinfulness of sin, the utter ruin of ourselves by nature,
the waywardness of natural man. The true hopelessness of ourselves
regarding salvation or regeneration or conversion by our own worth,
merit, or our own arm of strength. There's none good, no, not one.
There's none that seek after God. This is a parallel passage
to this right here. And yet, what is the conclusion
of this whole matter, this matter here in Jeremiah 9, or what is
the conclusion Romans chapter 3 verse 23 in Romans 3 for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God remember those
that that first for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God that's the conclusion that's us now look with me at
verse 23 and 24 Jeremiah 9 all have sinned and come short
of of the glory of God. Jeremiah 9 verse 23, Thus saith
the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory
in his riches, but Let him that glorieth or boasts or rejoices,
glory or boasts in this, that he understands and knows me,
that I am the Lord, which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and
righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. Well, let's look at these two
verses. First let's, we are to therefore
glory in the Lord. And this is only done by the
Holy Spirit revelation and we glory in who God is and what
he's done. But let's look at the first negatively
is what he says, let us not. Let not, negatively, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom or the rich or the mighty man
glory in his might, nor the rich man glory, glory, glory. That's
what he keeps saying. Well, our wisdom and our might
and our glory and our riches will not cover us in the day
of wrath. It won't do it. These attributes
individually taken or qualities of men by themselves are not
evil. They're not evil. We either teach
our kids at home or we take them to school and we want them to
grow in knowledge and understanding of the things of the world, the
things that they're going to have to face when they get older
and they get out of the house. And riches. Not a problem if it's not the
love of riches, not the love of money. and wisdom, and I know
a lot of us think we're smart and wise, and some people haven't
gone to college, but they're smarter than those who have gone
to college. So these traits and qualities in themselves are not
wrong. However, when men, women, boys, or girls link wisdom, which would be knowledge, strength,
or wealth, When they link this to salvation with God or any
advancement of self by way of justification or righteousness,
we are fallen from grace. We are in error and we have added
our own stench to God's nostrils and he will most certainly cast
us out. All these human traits or qualities
or attainments will fade in time. I'm 60 years old, not too long. I've worked my whole life, just
recently retired, but it takes myself and my wife together to
form a coherent thought sometimes. You'll be walking in the living
room and it's like, I can't remember what I was going to say. So the
wisdom, the mind, the faculties begin to slide and fail and we've,
you know, riches, I don't know what that is, it's subjective. We've struggled all these years,
but that's fine. God is, he protects his people,
takes care of his people. And strength, I can tell you
this, I got a pull-up bar outside in the carport. And I look at
that thing and I'll do that tomorrow. I'll look at that thing and do
that tomorrow. And then I'll jump up there and I try to do
them every day, but I can tell you when I was, 40 ish 30 ish
20 ish. I Could do a lot more than I
can do now. It's like do I can't do too many the strength it wanes
But we will try to take these things and that's why he says
because these are three areas of the flesh That we as humans
we understand what he's talking about. Don't glory don't boast
don't rejoice in your wisdom because it may fade or the wisdom
of man and There's, that's what we, that thinks, you know, right. But our God, they're foolishness.
So this wisdom that we acquire, or this might that we have in
our youth, and even older, and this rich, these riches, they're
fading. They're fading. So anytime we
rely, they cannot be relied upon for our one hope of eternal salvation. But actually, we're like the
woman with the issue of blood in the New Testament. You remember
that story? The last thing she did was go
to the Lord. The first thing she did, out
of the power and the fruitlessness of the flesh, is she got doctors
and got advice and tried to get more wisdom, more wisdom than
she had in certain areas. And what did it say? She grew
worse. I would say that's religion,
not only in America, but religion, man-made religion, freewillism
around the world in a spiritual sense. She grew worse. She grew worse. So I say again,
any reliance other than the sole reliance upon Jesus Christ and
Him crucified is, as that song says, sinking sand. It's a true
pit of woe marked by God as a complete separation from Him. Thus saith
the Lord, do not rely on your wisdom, do not rely on your might,
do not rely on your riches in the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God. Positively, we look at this in
verse 24, but there's that demarcation, but let us glory boast or rejoice
in this that he she a child understands
and knows me he understands me understands me now that word
means intelligent consideration in the hebrew intelligent Consideration
God does not save us, you know being morons he he we know him
and we hear his word and the Holy Spirit takes the things
and Pushes puts them in the heart. So this is a mind Heart and soul
that has been opened by divine sovereign grace to the undeserving
We know who we have believed We know whom we have believed
well Stay there, and I'll read you a couple places. Intelligent
consideration. And this is what Paul's doing
when he's writing to the Hebrews. He says, wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider, intelligently consider
the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. This is in another place. Now consider how great this man
was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of his spoils. And he's talking about Melchizedek,
which is a picture of Christ. Consider, think. In the Old Testament,
behold, look, muse, meditate. I heard a phrase which I imagine
we've got cattle down there, not as many cattle up here, but
it's called chewing the cud. Chew and chew and chew. You have
enough time in the day, enough troubles in the week to consider
work. You've got to pay your bills,
you've got to render under Caesar the things that are Caesar. I
know, I just recently retired, work, you work, you got, it takes
almost your whole life. Somebody said life would be grand
if we didn't have to go to work, but we do. So there's plenty
of time to consider what we need to do, and not just on Sunday
or Wednesday, midweek service, but we need, the believer is
saturated. It's the new nature, it's the new creature. And he
speaks of Christ, he thinks of Christ, he muses upon Christ,
he considers Christ. And then also here in Hebrews,
another place, he says, well, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him, consider
him, that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest
you be wearied and faint in your minds. And I know what weariness
is and I know what faintness is. Not near as much as some
of you here today. So understand, it's a mind, it's
a soul, it's a heart that's been enlightened by the grace of God
to consider, consider. And he says secondly, But let
him that gloryeth, glory in this, that he understands and knows
me. This word is to be acquainted
with, or to have recognition. I like how the scriptures, you
really think about it, somebody brought this up, a Spurgeon or
somebody, but faith is likened, it crosses all the senses. Because
when God saves a sinner, he doesn't just save the head, he saves
the head, the emotions, and everything, we are told to taste that he
is gracious. She touched the hem of his garment.
He says to embrace, that's touching, it's feeling the smell. In the
Songs of Solomon, the aromas that the believer, the church
is representing the smell to adore the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we look at this, that she touched the hem of his garment.
We look, look, you see, hear the gospel. So all the senses
are included in faith. And that's the grace of God,
given by God, indeed, and only by God. All of our senses. Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 1 said,
I know, I know, but let a man glory in this that he understands
and knows me. Knows me, I know, I am aware
of, I have believed, I know whom I have believed. We know him
or rather are known of him. And we love him because he first
loved us. And we know Psalms 110 verse
3, he makes his people willing in the day of his power. And in John chapter 10, Christ
talks about them, the believers, the church. He's praying that
they would know me, the only true God and the Father, to know,
to know, to consider. And as I said, it's in the scriptures,
it's spiritually used for all the senses, all the senses. He has given us the knowledge
of him and his precious grace for to obey and serve and glorify
that sacred Trinity. We know in most certain terms
that man's wisdom, strength and riches will always fail. But I tell you to look at the
verse again in verse 24, but But God, but Christ, but the
grace of God, but the everlasting mercies of God will never fail
or fall short of its intended goal. Glory in that. And boy, how we
glory in so many other things. Let us glory that we know him. Doctrine's important. Doctrine's
important. Five points of Calvinism. I heard
somebody say, well, there should be seven points and this and
that. I don't know about all that, but I know he uses the
preaching of the gospel, of preaching the foolishness of the gospel
to save them that believe. But it's not that, it's him.
It's knowing him knowing him Well, he continues on and says
here That I am the lord Which exercise exercise? That is to accomplish to do or
to make Which accomplish who's speaking here? I am the lord Showing once and for all who
is in control Whose purpose shall stand and who is it has the utmost
dominant will? I the Lord I exercise now we
can Say do this if our children They look at us and if they respect
us, even if they get old a little bit a little bit older They this
is mom. This is mom or dad. This is the
authority speaking. I need to do this when they're
little I I had to do this a couple times. You tell them to do something
and they don't do it. So you walk over and you physically
pick them up and you make them do what you want them to do. He accomplishes his will regardless
of our supposed strength or wisdom or riches. Either God, as Scott
Richardson used to say, either God is in control or he's controlled. Either God is totally in control
or he is not. I am the Lord. I, Jehovah, do
exercise. It is his prerogative to do so
to all his dear children and all his chosen ones and all his
bride. And we know him as a tender father.
What is he exercising his will to do? Loving kindness, judgment, and
righteousness in the earth. Loving kindness. Can you not
see? When I first heard of the doctrine
of election, when somebody first told me about election, I got
mad. I got real mad. Because I had
a friend from grade school that I was praying that the Lord would
do something for him. And this guy told me that it
was basically not my prayers. He basically told me it was out
of my hands. It was God electing grace. It was God's sovereign
power, supremacy. And that aggravated me. So I,
well, I won't listen to him. So I went home and I'd been given
a new Bible confirmation. So I started reading and then
I threw that down and I started reading somebody else. And I
didn't like that. And I threw that across the room.
It was hard for me to kick against the pricks. And I didn't know
he was drawing me with his cords of everlasting love. Loving kindness,
in election, in his calling, in his justification, his sanctification,
basically everything or every notion or every doctrine or every
promise that falls under his love. That's everything to the believer. It's his will. He's going to
accomplish his loving kindness to his people. Well, he says,
secondly, judgment. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed, we're not cast out for God, the father made.
The son to be sin. For us, his son knew no sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He has laid on
his son the iniquity of us all. God meted out his judgment and
justice fully upon our Savior's head, and the world went black. During the daytime, the world
went black, and we went free. God's judgment laid hard upon
his Son. The third thing, let him that
glorieth glory in this, that he understands and knows me,
that I am the Lord that exercise loving kindness, judgment, and
righteousness. Righteousness. All these words can get confusing.
I just lay it out simply from my own understanding. Isn't that
what God's punishing acts upon his dear son was? Righteousness. It wasn't and it was the act
of pure right. Because everything that God does
is right. Everything that God does is right.
So he does, he exercises his loving kindness, his judgment,
and his righteousness in the earth. In the earth, under the
earth, above the earth, and in all these planets that they're
supposedly water on and have life. He's sovereign over it
all. And I close, why Does God so
do this? Why does he, well, and in the
earth, for in these things, he answers it, I delight, saith
the Lord. Why does God so delight in his
son's substitutionary death on Calvary? Why does God so delight
that vile, worthless, helpless sinners are cleansed by the blood
of the perfect one? Why does God delight in His sovereign
will and purpose of grace, exalting His Son and comforting all His
redeemed? Because He gets all the glory.
It's like Joe said this morning in Bible class, when you go to
these other places, the litmus tests for down through the ages,
down through the, I've read Philpott and Spurgeon Bunyan and all the
litmus tests. I don't think it's ever changed
Who do they glory in and who are they glorifying or who are
they promoting? What think ye of Christ God gets all the glory And he
is, I say, most glorified in such lovely, beautiful, and wondrous
displays of himself to usward, us vile, worthless sinners. Moses saw this. Moses said, Christ
said he saw my day, he rejoiced to see my day. Moses saw this,
but remember he, Type the burning bush. It was a veil. It was through
a veil and we see through a glass dimly But we see the glory of
Christ every time the Gospels preached like it was mentioned
a miracle every time the Gospels preached Here every time you
go home and open if you're a child of God and you open this book
Given to us are exceeding great and precious promises and all
the promises in Christ are yes and amen. I Every time we open the book,
it's for us, just as he's for us, and not against us. Moses
looked through that with the veil, but we see it full on,
full on, through the blessed son of God's love, the Lord Jesus
Christ, Emmanuel. To God be the glory. Amen. In my youth, I was, well, I can't
remember a time that we weren't church-going people. My earliest
memories involve church. I grew up in church. I was taught
things in church. The churches that we went to
when I was a kid emphasized Bible memorization, and I was pretty
good at memorizing things. I knew a lot. Don't know that I knew him. Oh, it's easy to mistake knowledge
of truth for knowledge of him who is the truth. And I've got not a word to say
against studying and trying to understand everything you can
about the gospel. But that's not the same thing
as knowing Him. And even Paul, who had more knowledge
than all of us here put together, and who knew Christ, who saw
Christ, he said that I may know Him. No matter how much we know
Him, there's more to know, isn't there? What a wonderful Savior
we have. Well, Eric, if you'll come lead
us in our closing hymn, and then we're going to have a meal together
down the basement. You can take out your hymnals
again and turn them to number 226. 226.