Now let's open our Bibles to
Jeremiah chapter 43. Jeremiah chapter 43. I've entitled this message this
evening three words that go together. This is the title. Pride, bondage,
and destruction. Pride, bondage, and destruction. They all go together. We're going
to see a glaring example of this in the book of Jeremiah chapter
43. We've seen it already, but we'll
see it again. It's why I read that passage
out of Proverbs 16, because it has so much to say about the
pride of man, that which is natural to man. Here in this passage,
we've read where the remnant that was left in Jerusalem and
Judea, the remnant of people that God, by his providence,
brought the king of Babylon to leave in Jerusalem, not take
to Babylon, how they had been led out of Jerusalem and Judea
by a man who at first seemed to be a wise man and a bold man
in the truth, But then because of pressures from people, pressures
from his peers, he caved in to the desires of people. Instead
of doing what God commanded, he did what the people wanted.
He listened to Jeremiah only for one reason, to see if God
would tell him what he wanted to hear. And when God didn't
do that, he rejected the Lord. And he did this along with the
people. His name was Johanan. See him in chapter 43. And the
first point I want you to see in the first seven verses of
this chapter is a phrase that you'll find in verse 2. Let's
begin here with verse 1. It says, It came to pass that
when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people,
all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their
God had sent to them, even all these words, Now you know what's
happening here. They're on the brink of going
into Egypt. And then they go into Egypt and
they spread out. Why did they go to Egypt? Remember
over in verse 15 of chapter 42, or verse 14 of chapter 42, they
imagined three things about Egypt. They said that we'll go into
Egypt where there's no war. We'll go into Egypt where there's
not the sound of the trumpet. That's the clarion call to war.
And we'll go to Egypt where we have no hunger of bread. We'll
have plenty of bread. And so they went into Egypt.
And it says in verse two, then spake Azariah the son of Hosea
and Johanan the son of Korea. Now this Johanan was the leader,
but there was others. They were the princes, they called
them. And here's what they said. Look at verse two. And all the
proud men, All the proud men. That's man by nature, isn't it?
Full of pride. And here's what they said unto
Jeremiah. In other words, what he's doing, he's identifying
all of them by their character. By their fallen state of nature.
All the proud men saying unto Jeremiah, thou speakest falsely.
Jeremiah, you're not telling us the truth. The Lord our God
hath not sent thee to say, go not into Egypt to sojourn there.
They accused Jeremiah of preaching a false message. They were preaching
a false message. They said, you're lying to us.
And then for some reason, we're not told why in scripture, they
blamed Jeremiah's scribe. Remember Baruch or Barak, however
you want to pronounce it there. Verse three, but Barak, the son
of Neriah said of thee on against us for to deliver us unto the
hand of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians. that they might put us to death
and carry us away captives into Babylon. Baruch put you up to
this. Now why they did that, I don't
know. I just know this, and I know this not only by the word of
God, but I know it by personal experience. When men and women
are intent on disobeying the word of God, they will always
find somebody else to blame. Isn't that the case? Well, that makes sense. That's
the way it all started out, wasn't it? In the fall of man, when
Adam fell, he blamed Eve, the woman you gave me. And then he
blamed others, other things, but that's the way man is by
nature. So why they went after Baruch,
I don't know specifically, but anyway, verse four, it says,
so Johanan, the son of Korea and all the captains of the forces
and all the people obeyed not, the voice of the Lord to dwell
in the land of Judah. God said, stay put. Stay there
where I left you. They were afraid of the Babylonians,
and they said, no, we're going to Egypt. And remember in the
last message how I showed you how God had always, ever since
the days of Moses bringing them out of Egypt, God had always
forbid Israel, his people, his covenant people, to turn back
to Egypt. Egypt is bondage. So here you see, all the proud
men, there's the pride. And where do they go? They go
to bondage. Pride and bondage go together. Proud men and women.
And boy, don't you see that in religion. It is pride that leads
men and women into free will works religion. And that's bondage. That's bondage. The bondage of
the law. We're going to talk about bondage
here a little bit more. But look at verse five, he says,
but Johanan, the son of Korea and all the captains of the forces
took all the remnant of Judah that were returned from all nations,
whether they had been driven to dwell in the land of Judah,
even men and women, children of the king's daughters, every
person that Nebuchadnezzar, that was the captain of the guard,
had left with Gedoliah, the son of Ahicham, the son of Shaphan,
and Jeremiah the prophet. They forced Jeremiah to go with
them. And Baruch, the son of Nariah,
So they came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the
voice of the Lord. Thus came they even to Tapanes. Now that was a little town in
Egypt that was considered to be the headquarters of Pharaoh
at one time. So there you have it. Why do
men not obey the word of the Lord? It's because of pride,
self-righteousness, self-love. Why will men not come to Christ
for salvation? Apply it to our day, to even
their day. Why will men and women not come
to Christ for salvation? It's pride. Why would not the
Israelites, the lost, unbelieving Israelites, why would they not
submit to Christ for righteousness? Well, Romans 9 tells us they
thought more of their own righteousness. They sought righteousness by
works of the law. What is that? That's pride. That's
pride. And seeking righteousness and
acceptance before God based on your works, what is that? That's
bondage. That's legal bondage. And that's the whole issue here.
Unbelief is the fruit of pride. Pride is the foundation of man's
free will works religion. That's what it is. It gives man
room to boast. Pride blinds men and women to
their bondage. Let me show you an example of
that. Turn over to John chapter 8. Turn to John chapter 8. What I said was pride blinds
men and women to their bondage. They're in bondage and they don't
know it. Why? Because of pride. Natural pride. Again, self-righteousness. Self-love. John chapter 8, look
at verse 30. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke these
words. John 8, verse 30. It says, many
believed on Him. Now in the context, what we find
out about these that believed on Him, is that there were some
who just merely claimed to believe on Him, but they really didn't.
They had a profession, but no heart confession. And then others
really did believe. But he says in verse 31, then
said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. Now, here's the evidence
that you really believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll continue
in his word. You'll rest in him and follow
his word. And you shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free. Now look at verse 33. Well,
they answered him. Now, this is the Pharisees and
their followers. We be Abraham's seed. We're the
physical offspring of Abraham. And we're never in bondage to
any man. Now, first of all, they denied the bondage that
they were in politically. Because at that point in time,
the whole state of Israel was under bondage to Rome at that
time. But even before that time, you
can trace their bondage as a nation, physically, all the way back
to Babylon. Because they never did. You see,
this took place about four to 500 years after Babylon. after the time period that we're
dealing with in Jeremiah. And you had the Babylonians,
you had the Medo-Persians, then you had Alexander the Great,
and the Grecian Empire, the Macedonians, and then you had the Roman Empire.
They'd been in bondage for over four or five hundred years. And
they said we're never in bondage, so they even denied that. But
look on, he says, they say, how sayest thou you shall be made
free? Well, Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you,
whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. Well, what's
he talking about? Well, he's talking about unbelief.
He's talking about pride and bondage. He's talking about those
who are in the darkness and bondage of unbelief. who serve sin because
they don't know and rest in and trust Christ for all salvation,
for all forgiveness, for all righteousness, for all eternal
life and glory. And you're in bondage. Now these
folks here are religious. These folks here are trying to
be the most moral people on earth. They're like Saul of Tarsus before
God saved him. You see, they were trying to
be righteous by their connection with Abraham, by their circumcision,
by their keeping the law of Moses. That's bondage. But they said,
we're not in bondage. And look at verse 35. He says,
and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son
abideth ever. What he's saying is there, that
bondage, that slave bondage, the servant here is not a bond
servant. The servant here is a forced
slave under the bondage of the law. And it says, he abideth
not in the house forever. Now why does he say that? Well,
as long as you're under the bondage of the law, your position in
the house of your master is always conditioned on what? Keeping
the law. And when you fail to keep the
law, what happens? Then comes the destruction. Pride,
bondage, and destruction. But he says, but the son abideth
therein. He's talking about himself as
the son of God. The son has a permanent, abiding,
unchangeable position in the household of his father. It's
not conditioned on his keeping the law. He's a son by nature. But now look on, verse 36. If
the son therefore shall make you free, if Christ makes you
free, you shall be free indeed. In other words, whoever he's
talking about here in this freedom, they too have a permanent, abiding,
unchangeable position in the household of the Father, not
by nature, but by virtue of the Son, by virtue of Christ. And it can't be taken away. They're
not in bondage, they're free. And he says in verse 37, I know
that you're Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because my
word has no place in you. You see, that's what's going
on back in Jeremiah. God's word has no place in these
people. Well, look over at Romans chapter
six. We do not know our natural bondage until we're set
free. That's right, we do not know
the bondage that we're in. And we usually relate that in
three ways, this bondage, and I'm gonna deal with those in
just a moment. We talk about the bondage of sin, we talk about
the bondage of Satan, and the bondage of the law. We don't
know that until we're set free. Look at Romans 6 and verse 17.
He says, but God bethank that you were the servants of sin.
Now that's what Christ was dealing with in John 8, servants of sin.
That's an unbeliever. That's an unregenerate person.
But you've obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered to you. That's the new birth. That's
the invincible calling of the Holy Spirit. Irresistible grace. He called you and you believed.
That's the heart of faith. That's the circumcised heart.
And he says in verse 18, being then made free, liberated from
sin, you became the servants of righteousness. That's a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's one who has been made
righteous before God based on the imputed righteousness of
Christ, which he received by faith. And having received that
by God-given faith, you're liberated, you're set free in your heart
and your mind and your conscience to serve the Lord. And you have
a permanent, abiding, unchangeable position in the household of
God your Father. A special relationship with the
Father, by which you can say, Abba, Father. Now, we're going
to come back to Romans 6 in just a moment, but look back here
in Jeremiah 43. Now, there's all the proud men. Now, here in beginning verse
8, we have a picture and a promise of destruction. Pride leads to
bondage that leads to destruction. Verse eight, he says, then came
the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tapanes, saying, take great
stones in thine hand and hide them in the clay in the brick
kiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tapanes, in
the side of the men of Judah, right where Pharaoh's house is.
And saying to them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel, behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar, the king
of Babylon, my servant, And that's always an astounding thing when
God calls Nebuchadnezzar, a heathen king, his servant. Because providentially,
that's what Nebuchadnezzar is doing. He's an instrument in
the hand of Almighty God to bring punishment upon his people. And
he says, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his
throne upon these stones that I have hid, and he shall spread
his royal pavilion over them. And that was historically the
place right here where these stones were placed. That Nebuchadnezzar
instituted his son as like a Viceroy over Egypt when he came in and
conquered Egypt right here. And it says in verse 11, when
he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, that place that
you think there's no war. That place that you think that
there's no sound of a trumpet, a warning trumpet, that place
that you think that you can't go hungry because there's plenty
of bread. He's going to smite the land of Egypt. He delivers
such as are for death to death. Some will die. Such as for captivity
to captivity. Some will go into captivity.
And such as are for the sword to the sword. Some will be captured.
And I will kindle a fire in the house of the gods of Egypt. Their
idolatry will be destroyed. He shall burn them and carry
them away captives, and he shall array himself with the land of
Egypt as a shepherd putteth on his garment. Just like a lowly
shepherd gets up and puts on his coat, God's gonna array himself,
or Nebuchadnezzar's gonna array himself with the land of Egypt.
And he shall go forth from this thence in peace, and he shall
break also the images of Beth Shemesh. Now look in your concordance
if you have one, Find out what that word, that name Beth Shemesh
means. It means the house of the sun.
You know, the Egyptians, they worshiped the sun god. That was
one of their main gods. And that god will not be able
to protect them. It's a false god. And what they call the house
of light is the house of darkness. God will destroy it, that is
in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the god of the Egyptians
shall he burn with fire. There's the destruction. Pride,
bondage, and destruction go together. Well, obviously here, the trip
to Egypt would not be their salvation. It'd be their death. You see,
you cannot hide from the punishment of sin. It will not work. The soul that sins shall surely
die. And that's why we, as sinners
ourselves, need God's grace, isn't it? That's why we need
a substitute, a surety to take our punishment for us and die
the death that we deserve and that we've earned. You see, we
all by nature are under this bondage, this bondage of sin,
this bondage of Satan, and this bondage of the law. Now, what
is this bondage exactly? Let me just give you these three
things. First of all, what is this bondage
of sin that we talk about? Well, look over at Romans 6 again.
And let's make a distinction here. I read somebody who said, well,
the bondage of sin is the fact that we cannot stop sinning. Well, if that's the case, if
that's the case, then we're still in that bondage. Am I not right? Is there anybody here tonight
who'd say I can stop sinning tonight? No, you won't say that. I hope you wouldn't. I certainly
wouldn't. Since we're there at Romans 6,
just jump across the page there to Romans 7 and verse 14. Here's
a saved man, a sinner saved by grace. And listen to what Paul
says in verse 14. Do you notice it there? He said,
for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. What's the next
three words? Sold under sin. Now what does
Paul mean by that? Well, we know what he means.
What he's talking about, sold under sin, is like I'm a slave
to sin. In other words, I can't stop
sinning. It's being honest. He's saying,
now look. He says, look at verse 15. For
that which I do, I allow not. The things I do, I don't approve
of. Well, Paul, what were you doing? You must be a pretty bad
guy. Well, he was an apostle. Going
around preaching the gospel, being used of God to write over
half the New Testament. He says, for what I would, that
do I not. What I want to do, I don't do.
Or what is it you want to do that you don't do? I want to
love God perfectly. I want to love my neighbor as
myself. Now remember, I always tell you when we say that, that
is not based on how you feel. It's not, well, I feel like loving
my neighbor. I don't think you probably ever
feel like loving your neighbors when you consider who your neighbor
is. Consider that your neighbor is your worst enemy. Now, am
I right? Your neighbor is your worst enemy,
and everybody in between. You see, the Pharisees, they
love to pick their neighbors. Well, that Samaritan over there,
that's not my neighbor. So I don't have to love that
Samaritan. So what did Christ do? Well, he brought out the
parable of the good Samaritan. That old publican over there,
that's not my neighbor. I don't have to love him. Oh,
yeah. Love your enemies, the scripture says. He's your neighbor. You don't feel like doing that.
I don't feel like, but I know what God has taught me and shown
me. I know God loved me when I was yet his enemy, unconditionally. Paul says here in verse 15, what
I hate that do I. I can't stop doing what I hate. You see? So if by bondage of
sin, if it means that we can't stop sinning, well, we're still
in that bondage. But now listen now. That's not
what the bondage of sin is talking about in this context. What is
the bondage of sin? Well, look back at Romans 6. Verse 5, he says, for if we've been planted
together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection. That's our union with Christ.
Christ died for his sheep. Our sins, the debt of our sin,
the guilt of our sin, the curse of our sin was imputed, charged,
accounted to him. Is that right? He was made sin,
that's what that means. So that He's my representative,
He's my substitute, He's my surety, and when He died, I died. I was planted together in the
likeness of His death. It was for me. It was for His
sheep. All of you who are His sheep, when He died, you died.
When He was buried, I was buried. When He arose again, I arose
again. And then He says, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with Him. That's the state of condemnation
in Adam based on the covenant of works. Christ took that upon
Himself. That the body of sin might be
destroyed. Do you see that? The body of
sin might be destroyed. It's not talking about the physical
body. What is the body of sin there?
It's everything that sin is. It's transgression of the law.
It's missing the mark. It's iniquity, trespasses, everything
that sin is. It's condemnation, it's guilt,
it's curse, it's debt. The whole body of sin. The whole
prophecy of the Old Testament talks about that. Daniel chapter
9 and verse 24. He would finish the transgression,
make an end of sin, make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in everlasting
righteousness. So that as our sins imputed to
him, his righteousness is imputed, accounted to us. The body of
sin is destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. And
look at verse 7, for he that is dead, died with Christ now,
is freed, the word freed there, look in your concordance, justified
from sin. That's the bondage of sin that's
taken away. The condemnation. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. You see, the bondage of sin comes
when a sinner cannot rise above it or avoid its penalty. Well,
my friend, if you're in Christ, the penalty's removed. The debt's
paid. Righteousness is established.
You're not under bondage to establish one of your own. You have Christ.
He's your righteousness. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. So that's the
bondage of sin. Well, we've also been freed from
the bondage of Satan. Now, what is the bondage of Satan?
Well, look over at 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4. And look at verse 3. The bondage of Satan, verse 3
of 2 Corinthians 4. But if our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them that are lost. What is it to be lost? It means
you don't know your way. And he says, in whom the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. The bondage of Satan is
darkness, ignorance. That's the spawn of pride and
self-righteousness. That's what Satan does. He plays
upon our natural pride and self-righteousness. Remember that's how he deceived
Eve. Half God said, half God said, you shall not surely die. You'll be as gods. You remember
it? Genesis chapter 3. That's how
he plays upon, that's how he sows his tares in the world.
He raises up men and women in their pride to start false churches
based upon the free will and the works of men. Salvation by
the works and will of men. That's how he does it. And it
says here that those who believe not less the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ. When is this bondage broken? Well, look at verse five. He
says, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and
ourselves, your servants for Jesus' sake. And here it is,
verse six, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness.
Now, when did that happen? That's creation, isn't it? What'd
God say? He said, let there be light.
And there was light. Well, that same God who spoke
light out of darkness, look at it, hath shined in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's the Holy Spirit saying,
let there be light. And there's light. And we see,
we see in that light, we see our sinfulness. Just like Isaiah,
when he saw God high and lifted up, his train filled the temple,
holy, holy, holy. I'm a man of unclean lips and
I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips. And then that seraphim
flew over and took a hot coal with tongs from the altar, that's
the altar of sacrifice, that's the justice of God, poured out
upon the substitute, the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was
made sin. And he brought and he touched
my lips, Isaiah said. He enlightened Isaiah. He broke
the power of Satan over Isaiah just like He did me and did you
when He opened our eyes to see the glory of God. How God can
be just and justify the ungodly in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.
He brought us to the cross and showed us the power of His blood.
Oh, there is power in the blood. And that power of the blood is
that power that turns back Satan when he accuses us Because the
bondage of sin has been broken. When He accuses us, what do we
do? We plead the blood. The blood is my righteousness.
The blood is my justification. Who shall lay anything to my
charge? I'm washed in the blood of the Lamb. That's the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And then, the bondage of the
law. Turn to Galatians chapter 3.
We've already seen a little bit of this, but just a little more. detail in Galatians chapter 3
verse 10. What is the bondage of the law?
Well, it's the law's curse where sin is imputed. Remember Paul
said over in, I'll just read this to you over in 1 Corinthians
15. Hold there Galatians 3. The apostle
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, he said, He said in verse 55, O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
Now what do you mean the strength of sin is the law? Well, the
power of sin to condemn a sinner is in the law of God. Because
the law must pronounce judgment and death where sin is imputed,
where sin is charged. And that's the curse of the law.
You see, and look at verse 10 of Galatians 3, it says, for
as many as are of the works of the law, trying to be saved by
their works, trying to be righteous by their works. Well, they're
under the curse. Why? Because their righteousness
doesn't measure up. Their obedience is not good enough.
It's iniquity. Depart from me, ye that worketh
iniquity. I never knew you. But Lord, we've done this, we've
done that, we've preached this, we've preached that, we've tried
this, we've tried that. It's not good enough. It's iniquity.
You're under the curse. You see? It doesn't balance out. It doesn't measure up. And so
you're under the curse. Why? It's written. Cursed is
everyone that continues, not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. You who are trying to be
saved by your works of the law, don't you hear the law? If you're trying to be saved
by works of love, you've got it all to do. You're a debtor
to do the whole law. So verse 11, but that no man
is justified, declared righteous by the law in the sight of God,
that's evident. The justified shall live by faith.
What's that? Look into Christ. Look at it.
Verse 12, the law is not of faith. The law doesn't say believe.
The law says do. The law says obey. And that's
all it can say. The man that doeth them shall
live in them. But look at verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. There's the bondage of the law
broken. Redemption by the blood of the
lamb. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of law. Being
made a curse for us. That's the same thing as his
being made sin in 2 Corinthians 5. He was made a curse. Now yeah, I've told you, you
know, so many people today just go awry on that thing because
they talk about sin as like sin is, you know, like I could fill
this glass up with sin. Sin's not a substance, is it?
It's not a liquid or a solid or a gas or it's not a germ or
anything like that. Sin is transgression of the law.
Sin is missing the mark. Sin is not measuring up. That's
what sin is. It's unrighteousness. It's trespassing. It's going too far. Stepping
over the line. Going down to Egypt, you might
say. And it brings the curse. And
Christ was brought under that curse for the sins of His sheep. And He redeemed us from that
curse by His death. For it's written, Cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. And He did that, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
That blessing of Abraham is both our justification before God
based on the imputed righteousness of Christ, read it in Romans
4, it's right there, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to give
us life so that we might see the glory of God revealed in
the face of Jesus Christ. And how does the Spirit do that?
Well, He convicts us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
He sets us free. The Son sets us free by sending
His Spirit to give us life from Him and to bring us to faith
in Him. And He breaks that pride to the
point of bringing us to Himself. Now, that doesn't mean that all
that pride is gone, does it? It's still there. But it doesn't
bring us into bondage. Why? Because we're looking to
Christ. And it won't bring us to destruction. Why? Because
there's no condemnation in him. Sin demands death. Righteousness
demands life in Christ.