Well, good morning everybody. Make sure that you have a handout for today's study. We are starting the book of Jeremiah and we'll be in Jeremiah for two weeks. So this handout will need to last you for two weeks. So bring it back next week if you are taking notes. But today we're gonna turn to the latter prophets. And that might sound like an odd way to describe that. And the latter prophets include Jeremiah through the book of the 12. Okay, the book of the 12 is more commonly called the minor prophets. And we need to make a few comments about the structure of this class in order to prevent any confusion about why we're going in the order that we're going in. If you remember that we set out to teach this Old Testament survey class in the order of the Bible that Jesus would have been familiar with, known, the Hebrew ordering of the Hebrew Bible is called the Tanakh, okay? And that essentially is divided, as Jesus says in the New Testament epistles, talks about the Old Testament in terms of the law, the prophets, and the writings. So he frequently makes this threefold reference to the Old Testament scriptures. The law includes the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy, and it explains to us the establishment of the Bible's covenant or kingdom rule. Next are the prophets, which is gonna include the former prophets, and that's gonna include Joshua through the book of Kings. And this applies for us, the enforcement of God's covenant through narrative. So if you think about the book of Kings and Joshua and Judges, all those books that we studied, Samuel, I mean, these are largely narrative texts, really talking about God's covenant being enforced primarily through narrative. Then we turn to the latter prophets. So that's what we're starting today. The book of Jeremiah through the book of the 12, okay, the minor prophets. This supplies for us the enforcement of God's covenant through commentary. So the first half, okay, narrative. The second half of the prophets is primarily commentary. And then finally, we're gonna turn to the writings, which will supply for us the enjoyment of God's covenant through the former writings, that's Ruth through Lamentation, which is commentary in this case, and then the latter writings, Daniel through Chronicles, which is narrative. So before we proceed too far, a long time ago, let me see if I can find mine. We gave you all this nice little handy handout with some different figures in it. And this is illustrated pretty helpfully if you go to the page that has the big wheel on it. So probably not all of you have that, but if you do, pass it around and look at it as we're talking through it. But essentially, it has the divisions of how we're working through the Old Testament. And what's interesting is it's helpful because this structure really does parallel what we see in the New Testament. Okay? We see that the new covenant is established in the gospels, it's enforced in Acts and the Apollonian epistles, and it's enjoyed in the general epistles in Revelation. So that's why, it's like, why are we going straight to Jeremiah and not going to Ruth or Isaiah or something like this? And the reason is because we are tracking through the scripture in the order of the Bible that Jesus would have been familiar with. And that does reveal some things that are interesting and helpful to us. So, today we're going to study the book of Jeremiah, which was written by Jeremiah. Now, the order of the latter prophets in the Tanakh, they're ordered according to size. So that's, you might think Jeremiah's listed first because he was prophesying before the others. That's actually not true. The only reason why in the Tanakh, Jeremiah is listed first is because it is the largest of the prophets, of the lot of prophets. And then from there, they're included in a descending order according to their size. In fact, Jeremiah is actually the largest book in your Bible. So we're not taking these books in historical order, so that's important for y'all to be aware of. But that being said, we are trying to understand how the flow of redemptive history is unfolding. That is, we're trying to understand the historical account of how God has been working throughout history to redeem a people for himself. Ultimately, to prepare the way for his son, Jesus Christ, Though the Old Testament is comprised of 39 books, they come together to tell one story, right? One big story. Let's go ahead and pray and then we'll begin studying through Jeremiah. Father, I do thank you for this time. I pray that as we look at the book of Jeremiah, part one today, that you would help us, Father, to see things that we've never seen before and learn, Father, what you were doing within your people during this very challenging, very tumultuous, very dark even time in Israel's history. So help us, Father, as we turn to this book. I pray that you'd be glorified in Christ's name. Amen. All right, so a little bit of context for our study today. What's happening as Jeremiah is writing? That's a good question. Well, the Babylonians are threatening the southern kingdom of Judah. Now, if you remember, at the end of first, or really not even at the end of first Kings, but really after the reign of Solomon, what happened to the people, to the nation of Israel? What big event happened? Okay, captivity by the Assyrians, speaking of Israel. Okay, what big event happened? Yeah, they split. That's exactly right. Yeah, so they split. We saw last time we were looking through the book of Kings that God was faithful to David, so he kept a perpetual king, essentially, on the throne of Judah for a much longer time than he did Israel. Israel got, you know, taken into captivity. They had multiple exchanges of dynasty, of leadership. So all this was happening as all these prophets that we're going to be studying. This is the historical context of when they're prophesying and when they're bringing the word of the Lord to bear. So the Babylonians are threatening the southern kingdom, which is Judah. And as the book progresses, we'll see that Judah is invaded. And by the time we reach the end, people have been dragged away in three waves of exile, in 605, 597, and 586 BC. So after the last wave, the Babylonians raised the city of Jerusalem to the ground, including, as we talked about the last few times, Solomon's great temple. You can read all about this in 2 Kings 22-25 and also 2 Chronicles 34-36. So Jeremiah himself lived and he prophesied through all of this. So a very, very dark time in Israel's history. Now notice on your handout that we're still Technically in the G section, okay, and this is that kingdom timeline, which is also found in that handout that we gave you at the very beginning that's kind of tracking our progress. The G section, G stands for government in the promised land. Okay, and we see the establishment, the rule, but then eventually the fall of God's people, God's people and his place living under his law. We see their fall from that. Most of the prophets are providing commentary. on Israel's descent and fall into exile from their occupation of the promised land. So that's what most of the next, really the next few months as we work through all these major and minor prophets, we're gonna see them prophesying and them speaking into this very tumultuous context. Now we do see a tension here on our timeline, because Jeremiah and Ezekiel specifically, the transition into exile, which is the D, which stands for dispersion and return, is included in their prophecies. So we're kind of straddling the two times in our timeline there. That's why I included both. We're bridging over into both of those. So why did God allow this to happen? Why did God allow this to happen? That's the big question that 1 and 2 Kings answer. We saw last time that the people had been involved in idolatry for decades. I think that we kind of identified that that was, if you were to kind of, what's the sin beneath the sin beneath the sin kind of thing, idolatry probably is going to be at the top of that list. They've worshiped every strange deity from Baal to Moloch to the Queen of Heaven and engaged in such acts of worship as temple prostitution and even child sacrifice. On top of open dishonesty, corruption, injustice, adultery, oppression to the helpless, slander and so on, they've been sent prophets for a very long time, even up to this point that we're studying Jeremiah, they've been sent multiple prophets and yet they would not repent. The people have made shipwreck of the covenant. Now Jeremiah is announcing the covenant curse, the curses that were written into the covenant from day one in the book of Deuteronomy 27 and 28. If you remember all the way back there, we talked about if you do this blessing, if you don't do this, or if you do this, here's the list of curses that will follow. And what we see in Jeremiah is those curses essentially coming into fruition. But even as Jeremiah prophesized this destruction, he also describes God's way forward to complete his plan of redemption. And I'm just gonna say this now, that's the only good news you're gonna hear for the next 30 minutes. So if you wanna hear more good news, you have to come back next week, because this is probably gonna be the most depressing Sunday school class that's ever been taught in this church, which is a good thing, because you don't want too many of these. But Jeremiah is a very grim book, right? So one thing that Jeremiah talks about a lot is our hearts, okay? It comes up again and again. Our sinful, unchangeable by human efforts hearts. So let's start by thinking about those hearts. How does God change a sinful human heart? How does he do it? Okay, rebirth. That's a great answer. Good. Any other ways that the Bible talks about that reality? Stone puts in a heart of flesh. There's all these different metaphors. Let's think of another one. Any others? Okay, rebirth. Be born again. Removing a heart of stone, putting in a heart of flesh. Okay, circumcision of the heart, that's another one. That's exactly right, okay? Those are all good examples, you know, of the Lord actually having to act to do this. All of those things he all just listed are not things that we can do ourselves, nor can anyone do it for you. These are only things that the Lord can do to change a sinful human heart, which should be another word of comfort as we begin to proceed and see how that works itself out through the book of Jeremiah. Now, as I've already said, Jeremiah is a very big book, and no short theme statement can really do justice to the whole thing, but let's try to encapsulate the theological center of the book with this statement. This is on the front of your handout, there under theme. Here's the longer theme, then I'll read you a shorter one. The Old Covenant has failed, not because it itself was defunct, but because the people were not able to keep it due to their sinful hearts. Therefore, a new covenant is needed which will involve new hearts for the people of God. So if you were to maybe shrink that down a little bit more, Israel's lack of covenant loyalty and the eschatological promise of covenant loyalty. So in the book of Jeremiah, we see Israel's lack of covenant loyalty, but then the eschatological promise of covenant loyalty. When you hear eschatological, think last days, right? That's maybe a theme and maybe a more of a shorter way of putting it. So if you're familiar with the book of Jeremiah, it may sound like I just made a beeline for chapter 31, which is one of the most beautiful, powerful, encouraging, worth memorizing texts in all of scripture. We'll get there next week, not today. Chapter 31 is simply the theological mountain that the rest of the book is either climbing to, very painfully. Recently I went and hiked Guadalupe Peak and it was very painful. So it's still very much on my mind. So very painful 30 chapters to get to the peak. And then once you're there, you have a little bit of moment of getting to see the glory of it all, but then you have to come back down, which is also painful for different reasons. And that's really maybe a good way to think about the book of Jeremiah. So this is what the whole book's about. The question that Jeremiah sets out to answer is this, why was the covenant broken? Maybe in a deeper sense then, why did the people sin? The conclusion he comes to is very early in the book, that the covenant itself was just fine, the problem lies with the people. They have not been able to keep it. I'll repeat that, they are unable, they're unable to do it. They cannot keep the covenant, and that's because their hearts are in love with their sin, and their hearts are the problem. It's really a pretty hopeless situation since corrupt hearts, as we've already alluded to, cannot change themselves. And so for the first 28 chapters of Jeremiah, the first, sorry, 28 chapters of Jeremiah is very pessimistic. The people cannot keep the covenant because they have these depraved hearts and they cannot change their hearts. The only possible solution is that God changes their hearts and makes them fit from the inside out to participate again in his covenant. Though remember back to Deuteronomy where God promises to, as we've already said, circumcise your hearts. Okay, so even though they've come to this place, you can look back over what we've studied in redemptive history and see that God has already begun to make promises and declarations that this day would come and he would have a solution for them. And one of these ideas is of heart circumcision. Okay, that was something that was made reference to all the way back in Deuteronomy. It's something that he's already promised to do. So the book is structured, as you're gonna see on the back of your handout, into five basic pieces. So there on the back, on the bottom, there's a short outline. The first 29 chapters prophesy God's judgment against his people. Then we break for chapters 30 through 33, which is a beautiful description of God's ultimate solution to this problem, new hearts. Chapters 34 through 35 then shifts back to prophecy, and the final destruction of Jerusalem, with chapters 46 through 51 addressing the wickedness of the nations, including the invading Babylonians. And finally, in chapter 52, recounts the fulfillment of much of this prophecy, the invasion and the decimation of Judah. Altogether, it amounts to the longest book in the Bible. Okay, so for the rest of our time, we're gonna look at five themes that the book of Jeremiah gives us. These are all bad news. Next week is the good news. So don't think that we're just a bunch of doom and gloomers around here, because we're really not. So with that as intro, today we're gonna tackle the first 30 chapters by focusing on these five themes. Okay, this is on the inside, I believe, of your handout. Yep. Theme number one, breach of covenant. Okay, theme number one. If you were to read the book of Jeremiah with these five themes in mind, you would see these ideas sprinkled throughout the entire book. So number one, breach of covenant. So first, throughout the book of Jeremiah, God accuses Judah of breaking his covenant. He first lays out the charges in chapter two, verses nine through 12. I'm gonna have someone turn there and read for me if they can. Charges in chapter two, verses nine through 12. Judah is guilty of nothing less than giving up the true God in exchange for worthless idols. Would someone like to read that for me? Therefore, I will yet bring charges against you, says the Lord, and against your children's children I will bring charges. If you pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and sea, send to Gadar and the city of Dilijan, and see if there has been such a thing there. Has a nation changed its gods, which are no gods? For my people have changed their Lord for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very dismal, says the Lord. Has a nation changed its gods even though they are no gods? Okay, you can hear Jeremiah, you know, his prophecy against Judah that this is effectively what they've done. They have changed their glory for that which does not profit. They have really strong words. There's gonna be some really intense passages this morning too. This is like mild, just get ready. So as the book continues, God's condemnation grows more graphic, more passionate, and more intense. He describes Judah's sin as adultery. A treacherous wife leaves her husband. So have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel. That's in chapter three, verse 20. He describes their sin as prostitution. Okay, this is chapter three, verse two. By the wayside, you have set awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom. So Judah's broken the covenant. That's really the first theme. Number two, theme number two, repeated widespread sin. Secondly, there's a breach of covenant. The breach of covenant was not a one-time event. As we saw and as we've seen really through all of Israel's history, this cycle, this pattern, this downward spiral just continues and continues and continues. It was a repeated habit that really pervaded all of their society. And for hundreds of years, God had sent prophet after prophet to them. So listen to Jeremiah talk about his own ministry and those before him. Turn to chapter 25, verses three through five. I'll have someone read that as well. Jeremiah 25, three through five. Go for it. Okay, so although the Lord persistently sent to you all of his servants the prophets saying turn now every one of you Okay, what was the result from the people? They didn't listen. They didn't want to hear the word of God. They didn't want to cling to His word, His promises, the things that the prophets that He had sent to say to call them back to repentance. They had no ear for it. So we can see that the Lord was not quick to mete out this kind of justice upon His people. But this was a very long-suffering, patient God who sent many to proclaim His word against them. So it's gotten so bad, and this is chapter 15, verse one. It's gotten so bad that God says, though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn towards this people. Send them out of my sight and let them go. Okay, those are the words of God. Even making reference to the covenant leaders that did, you know, not perfectly, but did try to honor him and lay the people towards him, even making reference to them, he says, hey, what do you know? He said that his heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight and let them go. So instead, the people have listened to the lying words of false prophets. We see this show up quite a bit in the book of Jeremiah as well. They have healed the wounds of my people lightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Okay, you see that theme show up again and again too, that the people, and you see this in the New Testament too, right? That the people choosing for themselves, okay, people who are going to teach them in a way that, a word that they wanna hear. Does that sound familiar? Okay, well, in Jeremiah's day, I guess they got tired of, the people got tired of hearing all these negative, nilly prophets coming and saying, repent, or you're gonna be judged. And they started selecting prophets for themselves that brought this message of peace, peace, everything is hunky-dory, everything's good, you're where you need to be. And Jeremiah's making very clear, there is no peace. So false prophets tell the people what they want to hear instead of what they truly need to hear. Maybe just a point of application here. I wonder how many preachers today are guilty of really the same thing, right? How many of our churches is God's word not preached faithfully in such a way that people are changed? Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 20, for the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, okay, but in power. Our standard should not simply be, did the preacher say things that weren't untrue? Okay, that's not a very good standard, even though in Jeremiah's day, they even failed that test. Rather, our standard should be, is the whole counsel of God preached such that people are being changed? You have false teachers out there who are peddling falsehoods, but you also have some that are, maybe they're not necessarily saying something that's untrue, but they're really bringing the full Word of God to bear upon the people. So this is a problem that we face today in our churches as well, that we need to be fully aware of and on guard against. And in this way, Jeremiah is an example for us, right? I mean, you read this, you hear the horror of what the people of Israel or Judah was going through. And you see that they're surrounding themselves with these teachers who are tickling their ears, so to speak, right? And we see the outcome for them. And that should be a horrifying thing for us. That's why it's important to read these books. One of the reasons, there's other reasons too. Any questions or comments about that before we proceed? So point one, breach of covenant. Point two, there was repeated widespread sin. Comments, anything? Okay. Let's go and go on to point number three. Total depravity. So let's look more deeply at why this happened. Okay, so why did this happen? Why did Israel or Judah get to this place of essentially falling hard? So yes, this disaster is the result of a broken covenant, but the deeper question is really deeper than even that. Why was the covenant broken? Okay, why was the covenant broken? Why couldn't the people keep it? Well, Jeremiah says this in chapter six, verse 10, Their ears are uncircumcised. They cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn. They take no pleasure in it. Okay, so this we've already made reference to the fact that the people of Israel or Judah, I'm using those terms somewhat interchangeably now, but the people of Judah would hear Jeremiah's word and they couldn't hear it. They couldn't take it upon their ear. And in the way that Jeremiah describes that in chapter six is they have uncircumcised ears. They cannot listen. Okay, the word of the Lord is an object of scorn for them. You can just imagine the people mocking God's word even. They take no pleasure in it. They cannot hear the word of God because ultimately they have no desire to do so. And that gets to that idea of the heart that we've already talked about, right? They have no desire for the word of the Lord. So lack of desire so severely that it essentially will equate to a lack of ability. So going even deeper, Jeremiah tells us in 17, chapter 17, verse one, the sin of Judah is written with a pin of iron, with a point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablets of their hearts. The sin of Judah is written with a pin of iron, with a point of a diamond. It is engraved on a tablet on their heart. Okay, so just to illustrate, the Bible also talks about the law being written upon the heart of every image bearer of God. Well, sin, Judah's sin in this case, but sin in general is so deep that, you know, think about, a law, and this is just an illustration, but you think about God's law being written on the human heart, and then you see, you know, how confusing would it be if you're trying to read that law that's inscribed upon the human heart, and then comes across it and someone engraves sin, you know, words of sin on top of that, really confounding and confusing that thing which was written. And Jeremiah says that sin's, Judas' sin was written with a pin of iron upon their heart. Sin is carved, it is etched onto the heart. Look at verse nine. Here's that famous verse that we all probably have memorized as well. The heart is deceitful above all things, and it's desperately sick. Who can understand it? In chapter 18, verse 12, God tells Jeremiah to call on Judah to repent, but tells Jeremiah to expect Judah to reply. So God tells Jeremiah to tell Judah to repent, but then God warns Jeremiah how they're gonna respond, right? This is in vain. We will follow our own plans, and we will, everyone, act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. Okay, so God's telling him to go do this thing, even in telling him what the outcome's gonna be. This is how the people are gonna respond to your word. The people are led by these evil hearts. Sin drives and it controls them. Finally, on this point, let's read chapter 13 verses 23. So turn there. 13, 23, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil. Okay, so obviously no, we can't change our skin. The leopard can't change his spots and nor can the people of Judah do good. They are so accustomed to doing evil. So not only does the entrenchment of, the entrenched sin of man's heart cripple and control him, it won't release him. And as we just read in 17.9, the heart, this heart, these hearts, our hearts, right, are beyond cure. In its natural state, the human heart is incapable of hearing God's word. It's restricted in its desires, emotions, and feelings because sin is carved onto it. Sin is its slave master driving and controlling it. And there is no way out. Okay, in a word, this is damning, this is damnation. Warning, disaster, logic and power are all powerless to restore these hearts back to God. Questions or comments? Yes, sir. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, you're exactly right. These standards have been set, they're set in the law. They were laid out very clearly in the law. And there were hints from the very beginning, maybe not to this level, but you saw the people even being able to uphold that from the very beginning. And this is all part of God's plan, right? We don't wanna think that, we don't wanna read this and think that, This God, you know, His plan has failed. Now He has to create some new way for the people to return to Him. That's not what the book of Jeremiah or the Old Testament is teaching us. But there is a very didactic, there's a teaching component to Jeremiah as, you know, really of all of redemptive history that teaches and that prepares the way for the Savior to come. That way, whenever he would finally come, we would have no question about who he was, okay? So that's a lot of why things unfolded the way that they did. Any other thoughts? Otherwise, we'll go to number four. Good, number four. Proclamation of judgment, number four, proclamation of judgment. So fourth, let's look at what happened after God charges Judah with breaking the covenant. So Jeremiah writes this in chapter 11, verses 11 through 12. Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. 11, 11 through 12. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in their time of trouble. Earlier in chapter five, verse seven and nine, God asks this, how can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and they troop to the houses of whores. Shall I not punish them for these things, declares the Lord. God will punish Judah for breaking the covenant. And this is where Jeremiah gets his reputation. Okay, what's the nickname for Jeremiah? Do y'all know it? He's the weeping prophet. And there's a lot of reasons why he's called that. He's the weeping prophet. And God's proclamations of judgment, we have some of the most howering, horrific language in all of the Bible. So here's chapter, you know, it's interesting to see all these in one place. Like when you read through the book of Jeremiah, you see some of these like statements, you're like, whoa, it's a bit much, right? Well, this lesson, we're just gonna pile them all on and you're gonna see like the full horror of it. So just be ready. So this is chapter eight, verse 13. When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor fig on the fig tree, even when the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them. Turn to 922. 922, the dead bodies of men shall fall like dung upon the open field, like sheaves after the reaper, and none shall gather them. 22, 11 through 12. The whole land is made desolate, but no man lays it to heart. Upon all the bare heights in the desert, destroyers have come. For the sword of the Lord devours from one end of the land to the other. No flesh has peace. Contrast that with all the statements that we saw in Joshua, that they enjoyed peace on every side. and just think about how idyllic that was, and then think about where the people have come now. There's no peace. People are dropping dead like dung in an open field, right? I mean, I know these are metaphorical ways of describing these things, but we really see the fall of Israel and Judah through these words. Chapter 15, 17 through eight, I have destroyed my people. They did not turn from their ways. I made their widows more in number than the sand of the seas. Hopefully, as we've been doing this study, that statement lands on you like, oh my gosh, right? Sand of the seas, what language is that? Genesis 12. And what was a word of promise and a word of hope for Israel, in this moment has become a word of judgment. That your widows will be more than the sand of the sea. It goes on and on and on and on for 30 chapters, right? That's why it's so grim, extremely grim. Jeremiah Wales, chapter six, verse 26. Oh, daughters of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Make mournings as for an only son. Most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon you, upon us. Hebrews 10.31 says this, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And I think that we see a very clear explanation of this in these first 30 chapters of Jeremiah. But we still have one more theme and then we can finish. The undoing of creation. A undoing of creation. The last thing that we want to note is the character of God's judgment. The judgment in Jeremiah isn't simply the invasion of Judah. It may begin there, but really it goes much further. It's so complete. It is in fact an undoing of creation itself. Listen as I read from chapter four. This is verse 23, four, 23 through 26. Okay, we just got through reading Genesis, so this should be right on your mind. I looked on the earth and behold, it was without form and void. And to the heavens, they had no light. I looked on the mountains and behold, they were quaking. And all the hills moved to and fro. I looked and behold, there was no man. And all the birds of the air had fled. I looked and behold, the fruitful land was a desert and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger. So did you see and hear the essentially Genesis one in reverse? There's something cosmic, something primal in this judgment that goes well beyond the fate of one nation in the sixth century BC. In fact, chapter four, verse 28 says this, for this the earth shall mourn and the heavens above be dark. For I have spoken, I have purposed, I have not relented, nor will I turn back. So those are our five points. There you have it. I hope everyone's adequately encouraged and uplifted. These have been, like I said, probably the most depressing and discouraging Sunday school that you've ever been taught at FCL, and hopefully that remains the case. But like the gospel itself, right? We have to start with the bad news in order for the good news to truly be good. To hear the gospel that Jeremiah will bring to bear, you have to come back next week for part two of our study in the book of Jeremiah, and it will be very good. Okay, one of the most beautiful passages in all of scripture, so definitely don't miss it. Today, we learned about Israel's covenant disloyalty and the judgment that God was bringing upon his people. Next week, we're going to look at the eschatological promise of covenant loyalty. And until then, I hope you can sense the horror and even the dread of the effects of sin. Who will finally make all this right? Who will bring deliverance? To see how Jeremiah answers this question, come back next week. Jake, would you pray for us in closing?