Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, good morning again. And for those of you who have been a part of our church family for a number of years, many of you will recognize the name of Dr. Matthew Thomas. He generally comes at the end of April and ministers in our church. He's actually overseeing about 1900 churches in India. Anyways, he had a major heart attack. And so the good news is they got him to Chicago. But what we need to do is remember him in prayer, because within the next ten days, they will be doing open heart surgery. So they requested our prayer for him, and we'll pray for him in a moment.
[00:00:31] Also, I want to just mention a couple of things as well. You'll notice it was already said that we have our special services coming up. Easter is actually two Sundays away. Isn't that amazing? So, you know, when you invite people, they tend to forget. Anybody have good forgetters. That's why we printed up some invitations. So if you could take some invitations when you invite people and you invite them with giving them something, it actually has the service times on it, because how many know people forget that stuff? So I want you to remember as you're leaving, if you want to invite people for Good Friday service or for the Easter Sunday service. And let me tell you, Easter Sunday in this church is always exciting. So it'll be a great service. You could sense that some of you were here last week, we did water baptism. How exciting was that service? Right. That's what happens when you have special occasions. People go to another level. So you want to invite people to these services. It'll be exciting. The other thing I want to also mention this morning is just simply, if you're a relatively newcomer, within the last three months, we do something special in our church, maybe even four, whatever. If you've never been to a dinner with the pastor and you're new to our church, this is a meal that the church provides for you. It's on a Thursday night, April 27. What I do is I share a bit of my spiritual journey. I talk a little bit about the church since I've been here for so long, and also explain how you can become a part of our church family and be a part of the journey that we're sharing together collectively. So I want to invite you to that as well. If you'd like to go to that dinner. What we do need from you is that you're saying, I'm coming because how many know, you got to tell the cook how many people to feed, right? They like to order food to make sure we have enough. So if you could sign up at the guest services. That would be great. So we're going to have you stand this morning and we're going to go to the Lord in prayer. We're going to remember Dr. Thomas. I'm going to remember another lady. Most of us don't know her. I do. Her name is Rose. She needs a touch from God. If she doesn't have God intervention, she'll just be in his presence. And so that happens sometimes. And so I've been praying, God, you know, what's your best for Rose's life right now, in her moment, she's ready to meet him. If you want to take her, that's your business. If you want to heal her and restore her body, you can do that, too. How many know that's true? Either way, she's winning. How many know that's true? So let's pray. Father, we thank you this morning for what you are doing in the life of our church family, in the lives of people. I think of Matthew, Dr. Thomas, right now, we pray for him. And his families are walking through a very challenging hour of this medical situation, this heart. I pray that you would intervene, that you would touch him, that you would raise him up, that you'd strengthen him. I just pray that you encourage his family. We think of Rose. As I've already mentioned, she's your daughter. She loves you, knows you battling cancer unless you undertake medical. People have done all that they can do for her. It's either you heal her or you bring her home. And so we commit her to your grace. We pray for her family. We pray that you would minister Grace in their lives as well. And I also think this morning, as we are here in your presence, the most important thing is to hear your voice. And we're going to hear words from your book. These are words that you want us to hear. And I just pray today, as we're listening, that you are going to speak right into our innermost being. You're going to challenge US, you're going to encourage us. You're going to uplift us, inspire us, and help us to develop an understanding of how you work with us. And we thank you for that, Father, in Jesus name and God's people said, amen. You may be seated. So we're going to continue.
[00:04:21] I'm in Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah. I'll probably take a couple of weeks off when we get through this Easter season, but we're in chapter 33. Can you believe that? We've already done 32 sermons. At least I've done 32 sermons on Jeremiah just kept kind of flying through here.
[00:04:40] I want to talk about something today I think is really powerful.
[00:04:44] We're going to look at God's word of restoration, especially in a time of discipline. But one of the great challenges in our society today is the issue of identity. People are struggling. Who am I? Isn't that true? I mean, even Moses, when he had God appear to him in a burning bush, what was the statement? He goes, who am I, God, that you're picking on me to do this. And later on in the conversation, he says, who are you? And I think when we identify those two issues, who am I and who is God? We can have a deeper sense of the proper element of identity. Self identity. As a matter of fact, what is it that shatters a sense of self identity?
[00:05:24] It's what others do to uS. It's what we do to others. And finally, it's what we do ourselves when we basically go against what God is telling us is the right WAy to live. Which is another nice way of saying when we sin, it's actually distorting how God designed US. We were designed in the image of God. We were designed to be like him. AnD SO every movement away from what God is like actually affects us in a very negative WAy. It's actually affecting Our sense of image. It distorts it. SIN is followed usually by failure, loss, rejection, abandonment. When I look at our culture today, I say, these are words that could, good words to describe what's happening to us, right? A lot of people are battling sense of loss. There's a lot of rejection today, a lot of sense of abandonment. People are just struggling. Anybody relate to what I'm talking about? Can you see that all around us? I pick up this sense, and so people are wondering who we are, but also, where is God in the equation?
[00:06:34] So Israel was exiled to Babylon, and it shattered their sense of identity. It really did. As a nation, the question that came to the surface of their minds was simply, are we still God's chosen people? Or did God reject us forever? And you can imagine how powerful that feeling would be. Does God accept me? Does God love me? Or is God tossing me aside? Is he rejecting me? And you can understand when you study the Old Testament and you get a feeling for how important the promised land was, because that's where God's presence was. And the fact that they had rebelled against God for generations, God had been warning them they were in violation of his covenant. He would actually exile them and remove them from his presence. And so you can understand why they were struggling with this idea of identity.
[00:07:27] It's to this issue that God now wants to reassure them, because what's happened is now that they have been disciplined, now that they're on their way, some of them have already been exiled, but some of them, the last holdouts in Jerusalem, and the City is about ready to capitulate to the Babylonians. There's siege ramps all around the city.
[00:07:47] God wants to reassure the people, listen, I've not rejected you. And so in chapter 33, we have another chapter of a beautiful word of restoration. And so we pick up the story in verse one. While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, Jeremiah's in prison. Not a great situation.
[00:08:08] The word of the Lord came to him a second time.
[00:08:12] I don't know where you're at today in your life, but maybe you're going through a challenging moment. Listen to me now. God wants to talk to you. He wants to speak into your situation. And, you know, it's interesting to me that in the previous chapter, he spoke to Jeremiah, but now he's speaking to him a second time. It's very fascinating that God, when he speaks more than once, he does that to reassure us. We need reassurance. Anybody in this room ever need reassurance? I think we all do. At moments in our lives, we need to be reassured. So he's speaking to him a second time. Here it says, this is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it, the Lord is his name. So now God is saying to Jeremiah, in the previous chapter, there was a lot of discussions, and God was revealing himself as a creator. And I think it's fascinating that when our lives are broken and falling apart and our problems seem beyond our capabilities, we need to understand that the one whom fashioned the world out of nothing, the Bible says, by faith, we understand that God created the world simply by speaking it into existence. That's an amazing statement. By faith we understand faith believes this God made something out of nothing. I know a lot of people would debate the essence of how the world came into being, but let me point out something. There has to be a first principle. There has to be a beginning point somewhere. Something had to happen. But where did that originating point comes from? And the scriptures state very simply, in the beginning, God, God has always been, and he spoke something out of nothing. So the fact that God can create a universe should suggest to you and I that no matter what we are faced with, no matter what problem we have, it's not too big for God.
[00:09:57] Aren't you glad of that? Some of you are saying I feel like I'm drowning in my problems. Pastor, I want you to know God's bigger than your problem. He's a creator. He can make something happen out of nothing.
[00:10:09] How assuring is that? That's what I call an assuring word.
[00:10:14] Verse three, he says, call to me and I will answer you and I'll tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. I love this verse. God says, if you talk to me, I'll talk back. Anybody want to have God talk to you? Anybody want to hear what God has to say? I like this verse because he says, I'm going to show you some things. They're going to be great things, and they're unsearchable, and they're things you don't even know.
[00:10:37] Well, what are these things? Well, they're the hidden things that God's about to reveal to Jeremiah, things that are yet to come. Do you know that you and I don't know what's ahead of us? But God does. Isn't that true? He knows the future. Now, he might reveal some things in the scriptures about some of the ideas that are ahead, but none of us really knows the future. But God does. And God can show us certain things about what's about to happen in order to prepare us so that we're ready for the future.
[00:11:09] These things were lying in the future. So what is it that God's about to do, and how should we respond to the future that God has planned for us?
[00:11:19] I think that's interesting. Is there a response that we should have when God makes promises to us? And I was kind of digging through an old commentary by Matthew Henry. Matthew Henry wrote in what, the 16 hundreds? This is old.
[00:11:34] Digging through there. I was trying to figure out, how do I tackle this chapter?
[00:11:38] You don't relate to this, but Pastor mark and I and some of the preachers, you have to try to figure out an outline, right? We're working on this thing. So I looked up what he was going to do, and I don't know if I got anything there, but I did get a statement regarding this verse that I just love, and I'll tell you what it is. He says, promises are given not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage prayer. And I started thinking about this in my mind. I said, God's promises are really designed, are not designed to create apathy in the waiting, but they're designed to inspire us to pray. Isn't that beautiful.
[00:12:18] A lot of us, we'll read a promise and then we'll just sit on it, think, okay, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen, right? No. We're supposed to engage with God with his promises. He wants us to participate with him. He doesn't want apathy in our lives. So here God begins in the nation's painful present to encourage a better day ahead. And this is also true for our lives.
[00:12:39] Where are we in the journey with God? See, that's the most important thing in life, really. There's only two directions to life. You're either moving towards God or away from God. You can only be going in one or two directions. It makes sense to me. A lot of people think there's all these directions. I go, there's two. You're either getting closer to God or further away from him. What are we doing? So let's search out God's promises and then prayerfully engage with him in order to see their fulfillment. So in chapter 33, God is revealing to Jeremiah his messenger, a word of hope and a future blessing. But let's just take a look at the three things here that I think were being revealed in this chapter. And the first one is simply the futility of ignoring his correction. We're going to look at two verses here. He's framing it. He's going to create a contrast. But, you know, a lot of times we kind of ignore what God's trying to do in our lives, and especially if we're in a state of rebellion or a state of doing our own thing, and we're just ignoring God's interest in our lives. We're not interested right now. And God's going, no, I want you to be interested. And because of his love, he's going to continue to pursue us and he reaches out to us, but often we become stubborn and we refuse to respond to him. And so what does God do? He starts to get our attention. And you say, well, how does God do that? Well, he lets a few difficult things come in our path, and all of a sudden he's got our attention. Isn't that true? And now we're more open to hearing correction than we were before because pain is a great motivator to get us to pay attention.
[00:14:20] But after we've come through that dark hour, after a child's been disciplined, what does it need? Reassurance. And after God disciplines you and me, he's going to reassure us. So he speaks into our lives, words of reassurance, and says, listen, just because I discipline you doesn't mean I don't love you. As a matter of fact, because I love you, I've disciplined you. And now that you're listening, I want to reassure you of an amazing future in store because you actually have changed your thinking and attitude. So you can now begin to embrace the plan that I have for you. Is that amazing?
[00:14:54] What I like, and I said it in the first service, simply put, is that God designed you and I for his pleasure. That's a very foreign thought to most of us. And here's what I'm going to really shock you and say this, that you will never discover real pleasure until you decide to go and do God's pleasure.
[00:15:16] That's where the real pleasure in life comes from, is doing his will. The moment you start doing that, you'll have a greater degree of pleasure than you've ever known before. So a lot of us, we're trying to pursue our own agenda, and we're frustrated it's not working out. But the moment we surrender to God and say, your will is what I'm interested in, I want to do what pleases you, Father. All of a sudden, we start to do that, and all of a sudden we're happy. Happiness is a paradox.
[00:15:43] It's not about self fulfillment. It's about doing God's will. And in the process, we are enriched. Okay, so now here he is reminding Jeremiah, as I've already said, he's the creator and he's promising to restore the nation and he can rebuild what he allowed others to destroy, because that was part of the discipline. And we can see that even though God promises, he also challenges us to pray that these things will be realized. What God intends for us is us, his people, to participate with him in the outcome. Many think that waiting on God means passivity, but God invites us into the process through our intercession. So here's what I'm trying to encourage us. A lot of times we just go, if God's going to do, he's going to do it. I'm saying, not quite so simple. God will do it once we participate and come in union with him and begin to pray and intercede and watch how God begins to unfold it.
[00:16:48] I feel like a lot of people because of the word of God's grace. We think grace means everything's a gift, and I do nothing and I'm going, no, everything's a gift from God. But he wants participation. He doesn't want indifference and apathy. Are you seeing the difference how many are beginning to see there's a little balance here that God wants us to understand. Okay, so we have described here earlier in other chapters how the people kept resisting and God kept telling Jeremiah, tell the people to surrender to the Babylonians, this is my discipline. Better yet, why don't they just repent? And I could just remove this problem, but they wouldn't listen. And so we find in verses four and five, the two negative verses in all 26 verses here. And this is it. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the houses in the city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword. So what were they doing? They were destroying their homes and their palaces to reinforce the wall, to keep the invaders out. Everybody see that? And this is what sin does in our lives. It actually destroys things in our lives. So we're destroying our lives in order to reinforce the devastation that sin is bringing our wAy. Isn't that crazy? And that's exactly what they were doing. I mean, these guys were in desperate situation. If you want to understand how bad it was, read the book of lamentations. He goes into graphic detail there about the famine and the plagues, the disease, and, I mean, just the HuMAN cost. The toll of life was so terrible in this siege. It says in the fight with the BAbyLOnians, they will be filled with the dead bodies of the people. I will slay in my anger and wrath, and I'll hide my face from the city because of all of their wickedness. So what is he saying is rather than their human ingenuity helping preserve them from destruction, they were actually going to be destroyed anyways.
[00:18:46] It was inevitable they were going to experience all of these things. They would not prevail because God had what? Hid his face from the city. He had withdrawn his presence. Listen, if God withdraws his presence from us, we're in trouble. It's the way it works. We need God. Robert Davison says the fate of the city had been decided by God, who has hidden his face from the city because of the people's wickedness. This is an expression found frequently in the Old Testament to point to something that has gone wrong in their relationship between God and his people, and he has turned away from them. This is not a good sign. I love it. I read the scriptures when it says, may God cause his face to shine on you. Isn't that a beautiful expression? In other words, when God is looking at us, that's God's favor.
[00:19:36] You know what? Usually what happens is it's not that God moves, it's that we turn our backs on God. And so therefore, God can't look at us. And we're the ones that are withdrawing ourselves from the presence of God's favor. That's the problem.
[00:19:50] So by turning away from God, his protection had been withdrawn. They were left to their own inadequate devices and they were overwhelmed. Walter Brugerman points out that the retelling of the destruction is set in a contrast. In verse four and five is the background and the context for this new, what they call an oracle or the message from God. The chaos of evil has worked its will. In other words, a lot of times God allows terrible things to happen to get people's attention. He's letting it happen to get their.
[00:20:24] He's wanting people to change their thinking. You know, it's hard for us to do that. We're pretty stubborn. It says, the great and hidden things of verse three are now going to be approached in verse six. The interlude, which is verses four and five, which I've just read, tell of things that are not hidden, which everybody can see. I mean, they're living in the midst of destruction. So this is not hidden to them, and they're not that great. How many know that when you and I are being. Going through a hard time, no one's going to say, well, this is wonderful, this is great, this is awful, it's terrible, right?
[00:21:00] But now God says, but verse six on, he's going to start talking about, but I have another plan. I've got a plan for you. Remember Jeremiah 20, 911? We all love that verse, but God says, I know my plans. I have for you plans to do good. God does have a plan for us to do good for us. And we need to hear that message. It's an encouraging, reassuring message. What seems to be hidden is the understanding of how their unrepentant attitude was the underlying cause of what they were experiencing that seemed to be hidden to them. They had turned their backs on God and left the doors open to be devastated by the results of their own sin. And the end result of sin is always devastation. It always is there. Let me go to. .2 2nd thing God reveals to his servants, not just to Jeremiah, but to us, his restorative grace to repentant people. I love this. The moment you and I say, okay, I'm wrong.
[00:21:58] It's so powerful. The moment I say, okay, God, you're right, I'm wrong. I'm changing my mind. I'm embracing your way. I'm turning my back on what I used to do, and I'm turning my life over to you. That's repentance. That's a change of mind. It's going to change what's about to happen in our future. You cannot undo the past, but you can change the future by doing the right thing in the present. Turning to God, God restores us through his cleansing, forgiving grace. Robert Davidson says, side by side with the physical renewal of the city, God's going to promise now he's going to rebuild. The city will come a spiritual renewal based on God's forgiveness. This work of grace will extend beyond the mere remaking of a nation. But a demonstration of God's grace will be revealed to all nations. God's not just interested in the jewish people, folks. He's interested in everybody, even in the old Testament. This was God's plan to reveal himself to all nations. Look at verse six. Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it. I will heal my people. I will let them enjoy abundant peace and prosperity. How many here today say, pastor, I would love to have God bring healing and health to my body? Anybody here raise your hand? Anybody here? God wants to bring about restoration.
[00:23:20] Just grab that verse. Take that verse right now. Just say, okay, that's a verse God's putting out there. I want to pray that into my life. I don't want to just read this. I want it to become the living reality of what's happening in me. I'm going to start saying, God, I believe that you want to bring health and healing into my body.
[00:23:39] I believe you want to give me abundant peace and bring security into my life. I believe for that. I'm asking you for it. I'm thanking you for it. I'm going to rejoice in it. Let's participate with God's promises. I think we've gotten way too passive.
[00:23:54] He goes on, I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I'm going to restore everything that was taken away. How many go? I need restoration. In my life there's been things that have been taken away from me. I need restoration. Anybody need restoration? There's things that have been taken away from me. Let's believe for those things that have been taken away from you say, lord, I'm going to believe for that. Verse eight. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. How many say, I need God's forgiveness?
[00:24:30] Forgive us our trespasses. Our sins, even as we forgive those who trespass and sin against us. Scriptures are teaching us that.
[00:24:40] FB Huey explains the nature of sin here in our text when he says, the promise in verse seven that Judah and Israel will be brought back from captivity is followed by a verse that contains the three chief words for sin. In the Old Testament, there's a lot of words that describe what sin is. You didn't know that? Remember in theology class, we get a list of them, lots of them. The NiV translates them as sin Awan, from a word that means twisted or bent. Do you know what sin does to us? It twists and bends and distorts God's image in our life. That's what it does. We become twisted.
[00:25:16] People don't understand, know, go. Why are people doing this stuff? Sin. That's what it does to us.
[00:25:23] Here's another word. I think this is interesting. I know it looks funny, but that word is kaka.
[00:25:29] Yeah, when I was a kid, that meant bad stuff.
[00:25:34] It's still bad stuff.
[00:25:36] It means to miss the marker of the way. Actually, the New Testament picks up on know harmathea is the Old Testament kaka. Okay. Another word is rebellion, and it means, well, means to rebel. It just means simply to do our own thing. Each of these words as a facet of understanding as to the nature of sin.
[00:25:59] As I said, we become spiritually, morally out of shape. Sometimes to get metal back into shape, you know what you got to do? You got to put it in heat. You see these guys that are, what do you call them? Blacksmiths? They take metal, they put it in the fire. The metal gets really hot. Then what do they do? They get a hammer.
[00:26:21] Some of you, you're saying. That's why I feel like it's happening in my life. I feel like God's got me in the fire right now. And it's not. Not only am I in the fire, I'm feeling the blows.
[00:26:29] Okay. What's he doing? Straightening you out.
[00:26:35] You get that picture? How many are catching? A nice picture here now, man, no wonder it's so hard. I actually feel this, pastor. I feel like I'm being pounded right now, and everything around me just feels like this.
[00:26:47] I got all these fiery trials, and I'm being pounded on.
[00:26:51] You must be in God's blacksmith shop, and he's straightening out the twists and the bends. Wow, that's pretty painful. Yeah, I know. I've been in that shop. I had that happen. I understand it. I relate to it.
[00:27:07] Then it says here, we've lost our way. A lot of people are just. They don't know what to do anymore. They don't know which way to go.
[00:27:17] Isn't that beautiful? There's a path that we need to walk on. You know, proverbs talks about a path, the path of know. Jesus says, I am the way. I'm the path. You follow me, I'll take you to where you need to go. You don't need to remain lost. Come. I'm a great person. Just start following me. I'll take you all the way into heaven. How many say following Jesus is a good idea if you're lost today, follow Jesus. He'll get you there. He'll get you to the right.
[00:27:43] Know this growing defiance and rebellion against God. Why? Because he's the ultimate authority. And we live in a society today who has dethroned God and we've made ourselves God. And how do we do that? Because we don't believe in God. We don't trust God. The Bible says, trust in the Lord with all our heart. Don't lean toward our own understanding. Don't be wise in your own eyes.
[00:28:06] You know what I've learned over the years, and I mean, I have a very good education, but that doesn't save you.
[00:28:14] I'm not against education, but wisdom comes from God.
[00:28:19] Really, ultimately, wisdom comes from God.
[00:28:22] So we need to learn how to trust God. Don't be too smart to think maybe God knows more than you because I have no problem with admitting to God. I know a lot less than he does. So when he tells me something, I'm going to do it. He's way know. I like what Philip Reichen points out. This is pointedly pointing this out. He says here, he says we sin because we're sinners. We're not sinners because we sin. What does he mean by that? That's actually a very profound statement. What he's saying is we are sinning because it's intrinsic to our nature. That's who we are. We have a sinful nature.
[00:28:58] Unfortunately for us, we get entangled and we cannot be freed from our own efforts. We get into all kinds of addictions and bondages.
[00:29:05] Come on. And we're not able to get ourselves out of it. Sin is so powerful, it actually traps us. And we need a savior. We need to be rescued. And that's what Jesus came to do. He came to earth to be our savior, to rescue us from our sin nature and give us his nature, a divine nature. Now, we still have a sin nature as a Christian, but we also have a new nature, the divine nature. And we can say yes to God and say no to our sin nature. But before you know, Jesus, that's not going to happen. You say, I want to do the right thing, but I keep doing the wrong thing. You need Jesus. Paul says in Romans, o wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this. Only Jesus can deliver you. Amen. He's the savior.
[00:29:50] What does God does for us as a witness to the society around us?
[00:29:55] What's true for a nation is also true for us as individuals. When lives are transformed by God, people around begin to notice and recognize, hey, what happened to you? You know what? You know, all of a you. If your behavior changes dramatically, people going, what got into you? Then you can say, jesus, what got into you? You guys missed that one. Okay, that's fine then. The city will bring me renowned joy, praise and honor before all the nations on the earth that hear of all the good things I've done for it. And they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it. Isn't that beautiful?
[00:30:36] I love that. What is God saying? He's saying, I want to restore you and bless you so the people around you can see how good I am to you so that they will actually come to you and say, I want what you got.
[00:30:50] Isn't that beautiful? I like what Robert Davidson says. He says here we can see one of the most powerful, continuing agents of evangelism. Not merely preaching nor an attack on other people for their sinfulness. We tend to do that. Okay. But the vibrant life, the joyful character of the believing community. Listen, you know what attracts people to God? The goodness of God, the kindness of God. Isn't that true? Absolutely. But then Robertson goes on and challenges us as the church, he says, and of course, it works the other way. Often the greatest question mark against the gospel is the life of the church, the gap between what we claim to be and the reality of our lives. Wow.
[00:31:27] Those outside don't hear, don't listen to what we say because of what we are. What's he saying?
[00:31:34] People are looking at your life.
[00:31:36] He's basically saying, you're preaching by the way you live.
[00:31:42] You're loving, you're forgiving, you're generous, you're understanding.
[00:31:48] The other day I said, do everything in love. That's the summation of the whole book of first corinthians. If you start behaving like that towards people, people are going to go, hey, I'm interested in what you've got, how many know, if you're grumpy and complaining all the time, they're not going to be interested in that. They've already got that right. They want something different.
[00:32:10] I love this idea that this is going to bring renowned to God. This is not about restoring the people for their sakes. It's about restoring people for his sake, for his honor, and for his glory. See, it's never been about us. We think it's about us, but it's not. It's about him. We're designed for him. Once we get that in our minds, it changes our whole lives.
[00:32:32] Trepper Longman explains the nature of our fear of God and what happens in people's lives. I like this, to fear God. I don't think we really understand this term. It says to recognize one's proper place in the universe, it is to acknowledge that there is a being who is greater than oneself, indeed a being who has power of life and death to fear God really means that I believe that there's someone greater than myself and that I need to be under his authority.
[00:33:00] The emotion is not as extreme as horror, but neither is it as slight as respect. Closer than the picture of horror or respect is that of knee knocking awe. That's how he describes it. The fear of God is literally, if God shows up, we'll be overwhelmed by his presence.
[00:33:20] Terror is probably too strong a word, but you'll be a little bit shaken up. I mean, supernatural things happen. It'll awaken you. You'll be a little bit on edge.
[00:33:32] When we're in his presence, we will be awed big time, very strongly.
[00:33:39] Let me move on here. But what he says here is this word that's being used, fear and trembling here. He says, it may be well significant that the words for fear here and tremble are not the ones used positively in proverbs or the beginning of wisdom. In other words, what these nations are seeing is how God disciplined his children by destroying Jerusalem and then later on restoring it. And so what they're saying is, don't mess with him.
[00:34:05] Can you see that?
[00:34:08] See, I think we've got know the church has two extremes. When they look at God, one is complete terror. They're afraid, spitless of God. On the other side, there's people. That's the buddy system. Like, God's my buddy. I can do what can you. Both of those are know. Jesus says, you're my friend, but friendship is a different thing. It's a unique friendship.
[00:34:40] We're not peers. None of us are peers with God. He's way beyond us.
[00:34:46] The fact that he lets us in on things, that's an amazing thing for God to even consider us to be a friend of his. But it's not the kind of friendship that I walk around going, I do my thing and he does his. That doesn't work.
[00:34:58] There's a fear of God inside of us. Church has lost the fear of God. That's why people sin. They think it's nothing of it. No big deal. It is a big deal. God will discipline us folks, and he does it because he loves us.
[00:35:16] Now it goes on to say, this is what the Lord says. You say about this place. It is a desolate waste without people or animals. Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals. There will be heard once more. Now he's making a contrast again. And here's the contrast. The sound of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying, give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good. His love endures forever. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before, says the Lord. So what is he saying here? This is what the Lord Almighty says. In this place, desolate and without people or animals. In all of his towns, there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks.
[00:36:03] So what he's doing is he's saying, look, this is what happened because of the rebellion against God. Now he's saying, I'm going to restore a new future. You know, people don't get married if they don't think there's a future. I mean, if you're in the middle of a war and people are not eating, you think they're going to throw a party for that? Doesn't work that way. There's no joy there. That's what he's saying. But now I'm going to restore that. God says there's going to be joy and gladness and hope and security and peace and abundance. I like these promises, by the way. How many like restoration promises? I love this chapter. It's beautiful. Walter Brugerman says in this massive assertion of judgment, there's no will for celebration, not even security or trust or buoyancy or confidence to undertake a wedding, which always constitutes some investment in the future. The voices that sing of weddings also sing a more theological song, for the resumption of social life is intimately liked to the resumption of life with God. You see, when your relationship with God is restored. Life is restored.
[00:37:07] That's what he's telling us. I just simplified it.
[00:37:11] The Thanksgiving song entails a concrete gesture of gratitude, an offering which bespeaks of blessings received, the outbreak of blessing, joy. Gratitude overrides the silence of desolation. How many know when God really pours out his blessing? Does anybody get happy or excited about that?
[00:37:30] When God does, above what you could even ask or think, don't you feel like you're overjoyed? You just got to phone somebody. I can't believe what God's done. It's so exciting.
[00:37:42] Anybody get excited about these things? Okay, good. I got the right group here. Then he paints another metaphor, and I love this metaphor. It's the shepherd and the sheep.
[00:37:51] Jeremiah 30 313. In the towns of the hill country of the western foothills of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin and the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them, says the Lord. Now, I don't know if you know, in the Middle east, back in those days, they didn't have huge herds. They had a little flock. And the shepherd at night would actually sit down and they would bring them in the sheepfold and he would put his hand and the sheep would go underneath. The picture I get is the shepherd is actually petting the sheep as he's coming underneath. He's counting them, but he's also naming them. He's talking to them, right? It says, once again, sheep will pass under the hands of the shepherd. This being the normal way of counting them as they enter the full for the night. Beautiful. If I was going to explain to my grandkids, I'm a grandparent, right? And we go to bed at night and I always read them a story and we pray with them. This is what I'd be calling. This is how God tucks you in at night.
[00:38:54] You like that image?
[00:38:56] That's the picture I get of God every night. He's tucking us in.
[00:39:00] That's such a beautiful picture to me. Hang on to that. God wants to do that in our lives. It speaks of this meaningful, intimate expression of God's care and concern for us. Well, the final thing that God reveals to his servant is the restorative grace to his divinely appointed leaders.
[00:39:20] God's going to raise up the right kind of leaders.
[00:39:24] Do you know? I'm going to say something. When people are in a state of rebellion, God gives them bad leaders.
[00:39:31] And when people turn towards God and repent, God gives them leaders who no longer exploit them, but actually serve them and help them. Is that a beautiful thing? We're so caught up in our mindset with the political world. Just for a minute, I want you to break away. I'm not suggesting that we're not taking any responsibility. I think we need to take political responsibility. I'm not suggesting that we don't. But what I'm going to suggest is if we would repent as the church and humbled ourselves before God and ask for him to forgive and heal our land. The very thing that two chronicles talks about in 714, if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways, God says, I will heal their land. Is that beautiful? And forsake their sin, I will heal their land. This is what we need to be doing, folks. And then God will raise up leaders that can actually help our land.
[00:40:30] Powerful thought. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah in those days. And at that time, I will make a righteous branch sprout. From David's line. It's a very famous statement. This is actually quoted in the New Testament. Speaking of whom?
[00:40:50] Speaking of Jesus. Jesus is the righteous branch.
[00:40:54] He shall be called what? A Nazarene. That's the word. Branch could be this promise. They don't know. He will do what is just and right in the land. In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called, the Lord, our righteous savior. God is going to bless the city of Jerusalem. God is going to bless these people, for this is what the Lord says. David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel. David was. When he's talking about his house, he's talking about his dynasty. David would now have a dynastic reign. His sons would reign forever and ever over the house of Judah. But we know something happened after the exile. There was never a king reigning. But God made this promise reality. Because when you study the New Testament, you start noticing. They introduce Jesus with genealogies, pointing him back to David. He's the son of David. So Jesus is actually fulfilling what Jeremiah is explaining to us right here. It's a beautiful promise. Verse 18. Nor will the levitical priest ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually, to offer burnt offerings, burnt grain offerings, and to present sacrifices. Hang on. That's a very interesting text.
[00:42:10] The New Testament understands that this is all being fulfilled in the person of Jesus. I agree with Dr. Longman on this. This is who's doing it. Jesus is the son of David, who's perpetually on the throne in fulfillment of this promise, because Jesus is eternal. You know, when you have a king, they reign for so many years, and then they die. Then you got to raise up another king. Jesus is an eternal king. Isn't that beautiful? I love it. So we don't need to have new kings elected. All the know. Here's the good news. When Jesus came to earth the first time, he came to usher in his kingdom. But his kingdom is not fully completed yet. He rose again from the dead. He basically poured out his spirit. The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is living inside of the church. That's us. God, the Holy Spirit lives in us. This is being perpetuated until the day when the kingdom of God will be fully realized. When will that happen, pastor? When Satan and death and sin and disease and sorrow are all completely defeated, and you read about that in the last book of the Bible, then the kingdom of God will be fully realized. Aren't you looking forward to that?
[00:43:24] Am, you know, we got a lot of problems on this planet, but I'm looking forward to Jesus coming back because he's going to do away with a lot of those problems, and I'm thankful for that.
[00:43:33] But not only will there be a righteous king, but there's a statement here that the levitical priesthood will continue.
[00:43:40] FB Huey helps us to understand this. He's an Old Testament scholar. He says verse 18 appears to parallel verse 17 with its promise of the restoration of the priests who were Levites, and the sacrificial system with its burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrifices.
[00:43:56] It is the only statement in the book that appears to refer to the renewal of the priesthood. Those who follow the hermeneutical, that's a fancy word for the interpretive principle that prophecy is to be interpreted literally wherever possible. Usually interpret verse 18 to mean that the Old Testament sacrificial system will be literally reinstated at a future time. Okay, there's people that believe this, okay? But I'm going to shift gears on you because I agree with fb Huey. Notice what he says next.
[00:44:28] This interpretation, however, is contrary to the biblical explanation that Christ abolished the sacrificial system once and for all. You cannot read Galatians and Hebrews and believe that the levitical system continues. There's no need for it.
[00:44:46] Now. How can you have this verse? It seems to be in tension with what's being said in the New Testament. And this is what he says, and I agree with him. Christ as king priest will fulfill the promises of verse 17 and 18. If the promise of a devetic king is considered to be fulfilled in Christ, is it not unreasonable to conclude that Christ in his priestly role fulfills the levitical priestly role? And he does, because, you think about it, in the New Testament we have a high priest. His name is Jesus. Isn't that true? There's no longer any more need for animal sacrifices because there was one sacrifice at the end of the age when Christ died. For us. He is the supreme sacrifice. He did away with all the need for all sacrifices. So what Huey is arguing, and I'm in full agreement, is simply this, that Jesus is the priest, just like he's the king that's eternal. He's also the priest that's eternal.
[00:45:46] Are you following that?
[00:45:48] I have no problem with that. I totally believe that. I don't believe that we need another sacrificial system.
[00:45:54] If you do, you're going to negate what Christ came to do on the cross. That's problematic.
[00:45:59] But here's something even more stunning. This is the part I can't wait to share with you. Now think about this.
[00:46:09] You and I, as believers, are in Christ. We are the body of Christ. He's the head, we're the body.
[00:46:16] So now think about this. You and I are kings and priests.
[00:46:22] Have you ever thought of that? Let's take a look in revelation. I didn't put it on my slide here, but in revelation, chapter one, verses five and six, it says, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth, who are those kings to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom. That's what the Niv says. But the King James version translates it, who has made us to be kings and priests, to serve his God and father, to him be glory and power, forever and ever. Amen.
[00:47:01] You know who the kings are? You and me, believers.
[00:47:06] Now if you want to understand this, think about it. How many like C. S. Lewis? Anybody like him? I like C. S. Lewis. How many have ever seen chronicles of Narnia? Lion, witch in the wardrobe? Anybody seen that? Okay, how does Lewis describe the children?
[00:47:24] King Peter.
[00:47:27] Remember that?
[00:47:28] Queen Lucy. Remember all of that? What's he doing? He's explaining to the children that they are royalty.
[00:47:38] Is he wrong? No, he understands this. See, this whole sermon has started out with what's the problem. We're having self identity. We're struggling with identity issues because we actually are struggling with who we are.
[00:47:55] Let me just move along really quickly here. I want to jump over a few things because I'm going to get to the end, what I need to do here.
[00:48:04] I know we're going through a few verses. You know, the good news is I have a web page that has these notes, so you can always go there to find it.
[00:48:14] I want to go to verse 24 to 26, last three verses. Have you not noticed that these people are saying, the Lord has rejected the two kingdoms? He chose Judah and Israel. So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation. How many know? The jewish people struggled for identity for a long time? Anybody know? That's true? People attacked them, but they always maintained a sense of self identity. They always felt that they were the chosen people.
[00:48:38] Okay, this is what the Lord says. If I have not made my covenant with day and night and established the law of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David, my servant, and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them. The closing words of God's restoration and compassion on his people. After the season of discipline, the closing word speaks of God's restoration. What did they do to deserve this restoration? And the answer is, nothing.
[00:49:13] God disciplined them. They finally realized they were wrong, but they were struggling with something, and their struggle was simply this. They were being told by all the other nations that they were rejected. Israel had to deal with this idea. Are we still chosen by God? And what God is saying in this chapter is, yes, I have not rejected you. I have chosen you. That's very powerful. Now, when we awaken to God's goodness, mercy and grace and turn our hearts away from sin and we turn to him, we move from a state of being rejected by our sinfulness to being accepted and chosen by God. And so we see in these concluding verses that the nations saw the exile as God's rejection of his people, and therefore they despised them as a people group and no longer saw them as a nation. What others think of them is one thing, but how they saw themselves is absolutely critical. How others see us and how we see ourselves affects our sense of self identity. How many know that's true? How people see you and how you see yourself. This is affecting who you think you are. But what is the most important is how God sees you and how God sees me. You know what? That changes the whole equation here in these final two verses. We see that God had not rejected them, but had chosen them and was about to restore them. What we need to know as a child of God is that in times of discipline, we're still beloved by our father. What he thinks of us is that is what really matters. And it empowers us to walk through the most challenging seasons of our lives. So I'm going to have us stand as we close because I think this is a very powerful message that we need to kind of really wrap our hearts and minds around.
[00:51:03] And I'm going to ask a couple of questions. So just bow your heads for a minute and here's my questions. Where are you in your journey with God? Where are you?
[00:51:17] You see, we're either moving towards God or we're moving away from God. We're either living a life of surrender to God and obedience, or we're walking away and we're living a life of our own understanding. You're only going in one or two directions.
[00:51:34] Maybe you're here today and you're saying, yeah, that's what I've been doing. I've been wandering and I even feel disciplined. That's not a bad thing. God, if he's disciplining us, it's because he cares about us.
[00:51:49] Our sense of identity is being shaped by the direction of our lives.
[00:51:57] I think that's powerful. Our sense of identity is being shaped by where we're going. If we're moving towards God, that means we're embracing him and we're embracing what he says. We're learning and we're embracing what he says about us. And a lot of people are going to say a lot of stuff about you.
[00:52:15] They'll say all kinds of things. Do you know why a lot of christians are accommodating and surrendering to the values of the society? I'll tell you why. Because they don't know who they are. They don't see themselves as kings and priests. They don't see themselves as beloved by God. They don't have the strength inside of them to resist. They just kind of capitulate to the pressure.
[00:52:37] You and I need to know who we are.
[00:52:41] So maybe you're here today. You say, you know, pastor, I'm struggling with my sense of identity. Maybe that's you this morning. Just raise your hand. I want to pray with you today. That's where you're at. I'm struggling with my sense of identity. A lot of people. Okay, put your hands down.
[00:53:00] Here's another one. Where are you with surrendering to God?
[00:53:06] God wants you to surrender to him. Remember what I said earlier in the sermon? Pleasure.
[00:53:11] If you really want to have happiness and pleasure in life, here comes live to please him.
[00:53:19] You were created for his pleasure. The moment you start embracing God's will and his pleasure, pleasure will start flooding into your life. It's the right kind of pleasure. There's a joy that comes from being with God.
[00:53:33] And maybe you're struggling with that. That's not how you're living, but you want to. Today is a day of surrender.
[00:53:39] I don't know how many times in my journey as a christian I've had to surrender.
[00:53:44] I call it building a new altar and laying myself down on that altar and saying, God, I'm making a fresh surrender.
[00:53:52] And maybe today God's spirit is speaking to you. You need to make a fresh surrender.
[00:53:57] Is that you this morning? Just raise your hand. I want to pray with you. This is a day of surrender for you. Fresh surrender. You're just putting yourself. You say, God, I'm making fresh surrender. Today. It's about your will. I want to do your will. Whatever it is, I'm going to do your will. That's what I want above everything else in life, I want your will.
[00:54:18] It's good. It's beautiful. God, spirit is moving right now. Maybe you're here today and you say, I don't even know what you're talking about. Pastor, I've never met Jesus, but I want to.
[00:54:31] Because remember what I told you. If you follow him, he'll take you to the right place. He's the way.
[00:54:36] Maybe you feel lost and confused. You don't know which way you're going. But today you're saying, you know what? I just want to follow Jesus. I feel like he's calling me today. I sense that he wants me to follow him.
[00:54:49] And that's you today. Just raise your hand. I'm going to pray with you. Just raise your hand. You're saying, I want to follow Jesus. Is that you? Yeah.
[00:54:58] It's good. Someone raised their hand. That's awesome. It's beautiful. God's speaking to people. See, I know we're taking a couple of minutes, but this is so important.
[00:55:09] We're kind of appropriating what God is saying to us today. God is talking to us and we're saying, yes, I want to jump in and respond to that.
[00:55:19] So, Father, we come to you right now. We're going to pray. We're praying to you. The one who knows the future, the one who can reveal the great and wonderful future that you have in store for our lives. And I'll tell you, heaven is an amazing place.
[00:55:33] It's a place where there is no sin and there's no more sorrow. There's no more disease and there's no more loss. It's a place where there's complete love and there's no hatred. It's a place where there's fullness of joy and no sorrow. It's an amazing place and it's where you dwell. It's a place that we're heading towards. If we know you and we're following you, we're going to end up there. That's the most amazing thing. And so we're turning our faces towards you, Lord, because we want your favor to be upon our lives. We're making surrender to you today, Lord, we want your will to be done. We recognize that we're on this planet for a purpose, but it's not the one that we first thought it was for. It's not about us. It's about you. It's about pleasing you. It's about doing your will. And as we surrender to that, Lord, I believe that you're going to show us what we should be doing. And pleasure is going to flood into our lives. Because in the presence of your presence, your presence brings fullness of joy.
[00:56:30] And Lord, there's a longing in our hearts to experience your joy.
[00:56:35] And I pray today you'll fill us with hope. I pray today that you're going to bring restoration in bodies, restoration in minds, restorations in our spirit, restoration in relationships. I believe, Father, you want to restore things that have been taken away from us. Areas in our lives that we've allowed sin to creep into and have damaged us and affected the way we see ourselves. And I pray today by the spirit of the living God, that by the authority of your holy word, Father, we pray today that we will reclaim those places and restoration will come in those areas in our lives. We're believing for that today, Father, we're asking you in prayer, in faith, and we're receiving your gifts of grace right now. You're imparting things to us and we're embracing them. We're embracing them. We're embracing healing to our body. We're embracing healing to our time. We're embracing healing in relationships. We're embracing your purposes for our lives.
[00:57:36] We thank you for this restorative work.
[00:57:39] In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave.
