One of my favorite hymns is,
in your book, it's hymn number 17. I've got a lot of favorite
hymns. One of my favorites is, Come
Thou Fount of Every Blessing, and that's the title of this
message. That hymn says, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. And that's one of my favorites.
Well, here in Jeremiah 33, look at verses 15 and 16. You're familiar
with these verses. Most of you are. In fact, you
can turn to Jeremiah 23 also because there's a parallel verse
there. Jeremiah 23 and Jeremiah 33. In Jeremiah 33, 15, he says,
in those days. Now, that speaks of the future
for Jeremiah. Jeremiah prophesied some 550
to 600 years before the coming of Christ into the world. So
he was after Isaiah, who was about 700 years before Christ.
But he prophesied of Christ, Jeremiah did, just like Isaiah. And in those days, the days of
which he's speaking of here, the days of the gospel economy
or the new covenant, the days of the arrival of the Messiah
into this world. And he said, in those days and
at that time, that's the time appointed of God. Remember Paul
wrote about it in Galatians 4.4, in the fullness of the time,
God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law. He
said, in that time will I cause the branch of righteousness to
grow up unto David. So the reference here is to the
covenant God made with David. the royal covenants quoted in
2nd Samuel chapter 7 which God covenant with David and promised
that his throne would not be vacant and that his throne would
be eternal however he was not speaking of David's earthly throne
there was a limited fulfillment of that for David in but that
was very limited and it did in David's throne was destroyed
his earthly throne But the spiritual throne of David, this is talking
about Christ, the King of Kings, who was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. So this branch of righteousness
speaks of his humanity. He is God in human flesh. That's
who the King of Kings is. It says, and he shall execute
judgment and righteousness in the land. Now, you know, I talked
about in the message at 10, you know, how salvation, the forgiveness
of sins, the mercy of God, the love of God, must be established
upon righteousness. And it's very interesting, isn't
it, that the way that these things are related in scripture, isn't
it? I mean, he didn't say, he shall come and try to save you
if you'll let him. It didn't say that there. In
fact, it never says that in the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation,
you won't find that. He didn't even say that he comes
to make you savable. No, it said he's going to come
to do something. He's going to execute judgment and righteousness
in the land, here on this earth. And you know that's talking about
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's talking about his substitutionary
work as the surety of his people. What is a surety? Now in the
Bible, don't think of a surety the way we become surety. When
we become surety for somebody who's borrowing something, we
say, well, we'll pay it if they can't. That's not the kind of
surety that Christ is. Christ is the surety in the sense
of a guarantee. He will pay the debt for his
people, the sin debt. And he's always been the surety
of his people. That was set up before the foundation
of the world. Well, the surety has to make
payment in time, and that's what he's talking about. He's going
to execute judgment and righteousness in the land. This is when he
was made sin. Second Corinthians 521. Christ
had the sins of his people, his church, his sheep, God's elect,
charged, accounted, imputed to him. He became accountable for
their debt. He said, put it on my account,
I'll pay it. And it's always been that way,
hadn't it? There's never been a time where God looked at his
people and said, now you pay it, and if you can't, I've got
somebody who, no. Christ has always been the sure.
And then this is the time when righteousness is established
on earth. Law and justice are satisfied. The sin debt is paid. Jesus paid it all. That's another
hymn we sing. Did he pay it all? Somebody says,
well, he paid it all, but you've got to receive it. No, he paid
it all and you will receive it. And we'll talk about that in
just a moment. Verse 16, in those days shall Judah be saved and
Jerusalem shall dwell safely. Now that's in the days of the
Messiah. And there is a limited fulfillment of this in the land
of Israel for a time, but it's very limited. And it's not, it's
not eternal. It's not spiritual. Jeremiah,
this portion of scripture, this section of his prophecy beginning
back in chapter 30 and going through the end of chapter 33
here is called the Book of Consolation. The Book of Consolation. You
know what consolation is, when you console someone, you comfort
them. And the reason that God revealed
this to Jeremiah was so that this book of consolation could
be read to the small remnant of believing sinners, sinners
saved by grace, in that day who were in captivity in Babylon
at this time. And so they could be comforted.
You know what we are, you know, by nature. Even sinners saved
by grace. In that hymn, Come Thou Fount
of Every Blessing, the hymn writer wrote that we're such wanderers,
you know, my wandering heart, keep me, Lord. I'm so prone to
wander, he said. And when circumstances get bad,
I don't know what I would do if they marched in here and arrested
me and put me in prison for preaching what I'm preaching to you. That's
where Jeremiah is at this time. The reason King Zedekiah, who
was the last king of Judah before the fall of Jerusalem there,
He put Jeremiah in jail for preaching what he was preaching. And that's
where Jeremiah, and that's a discouraging thing. You know, you say, well,
Lord, why me? You know how we are. So here,
many of the people had been carried off to Babylon, but there was
a small remnant of true believers in that nation. I can name some
of them, one man named Daniel. I can name three more, Shadrach,
Meshach, Abednego. They were true believers. It
was a small remnant now, not anywhere near the majority. Because
most of the people, most nations were rebellious. But this is
the book of consolation, and it begins back in chapter 30
and goes to chapter 33. And this was to be read to them.
And so how does he comfort them? He said, well, you know, things
will get better if you guys will just straighten up. No, that's
not how he comforts them. He'd say, well, if you all would
just rededicate your lives tonight, it'll all be better. No. He talks
about the coming of Christ to execute judgment and right. Now
that's the comfort. That's the consolation. I think
of old Simeon in Luke chapter two, he was waiting for the consolation
of Israel. Took the Christ child in his
arms and held that baby. And he said, I'm ready to die
now. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
And so it says, in those days Judah shall be saved. Now Judah
and Jerusalem, Judah is an emblem, a type of the church. The people of God, the elect
of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ and regenerated by
the Holy Spirit. Jerusalem is a type of the citizenship,
the heavenly city, the one coming down from heaven in Revelation
what, 21 or 22, I can't remember. But in that book, the heavenly
city coming down. And in the book of Hebrews, it
talks about it. How we didn't come to a physical
mountain like they did back at Sinai, but we come to Zion and
the heavenly city. We're citizens, if we're in Christ,
we're citizens of a heavenly city, a heavenly kingdom. And that's what Jerusalem is.
It's the dwelling place of God. And he says they shall dwell
safely. And he says, and this is the name wherewith she shall
be called. Now there's a feminine pronoun
there, she, you see that? You've heard this before, many
of you. Wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness.
Jehovah Sid Canoe in the Hebrew. That's what that is. That's,
now, she, who's the she there? That's his church. That's the
people of God. That's the true people of God.
God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation,
Jew, and Gentile who come to believe in, who are brought to
believe in by the power of God to believe in and rest in Christ
for all their righteousness, for all forgiveness, for all
salvation. Look back at Jeremiah 23 verse
5. Now here's another prophecy that is basically the same, but
there is a little difference. It's not an opposite, it's not
a denial of each other, it's just a little different to make
a point, a good point. And it says, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that's the same days that he's talking
about in Jeremiah 33, that I will raise unto David a righteous
branch, there's the Messiah, you see, God-man, and a king
shall reign and prosper. and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth, same thing, and in his days Judah shall be
saved and Israel shall dwell. You remember there was a separation
of the two, of the land after Solomon, Israel the northern
kingdom, Judah the southern kingdom. Now Israel at this time had already
been destroyed and taken away by the Assyrian Empire. They
were already gone. But he mentions Israel. You know
what the name Israel means, don't you? It means those who prevail
with God. That's what it means, prevailing
with God. Sometimes we'll use the term
prince of God, and it can mean that, but literally it means
prevailed with God. Remember that's the name Jacob
was given when he wrestled with the angel. And he said, I won't
let you go until you bless me. Now that prevailing of God, how
does a sinner prevail with God? By pleading Christ. That's the
only way you can prevail with God. That's the only way God
will take notice of you in mercy. By pleading Christ. Resting in
Christ. Submitting to Christ and his
righteousness. And he says, they'll dwell safely.
And this is his name. Now there's the masculine pronoun.
His name shall be, whereby he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness, Jehovah's sake. Now that verse is talking about
Christ himself. as the king, as the head of the
church, as the husband of the church, if you will. And over
here in Jeremiah 33, it's talking about the church as his bride,
because that's what happens. When a bride marries a groom,
she takes his name. And what this is speaking of
is the union of Christ and his people. Christ is the head of
the church, the church is his body. Christ is the foundation
of the church. Remember Matthew 16, he said,
upon this rock I will build my church. He wasn't talking about
Peter. Peter's not the rock. If Peter
was the rock, the rock denied him three times later on. What
kind of rock is that? No, Christ is the rock of the
church. It's him, it's Christ crucified
and risen. He's the foundation of the church.
Christ is the heart of the church. Everything centers around him.
He said, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I'll
be in the midst of them. So it's Christ, you see, and then his
bride. The righteousness of the church
is not one that she worked out by her works or her efforts or
her sincerity, but as she's united to Christ, it's the righteousness
of Christ imputed to her, charged to her, accounted to her. Now
what he's doing here as he concludes this book of consolation, he's
showing that every blessing of salvation is conditioned upon
and founded upon and secure because of Christ the Lord our righteousness.
That's what he's doing. He's telling these people who
are in such dire straits in captivity in a foreign land that look now
and who would, who could, who could from a human, sinful, unbelieving
viewpoint, which we have to fight now because of the flesh, say,
well, it's all over now. Everything that God promised
Abraham is gone and there's no hope for us. And he's saying,
no, no, no, no. In those days. And at that time,
well, I calls the branch of righteousness to grow up under David. Messiah
is coming. And that's what this is all about.
It's all about Christ. Your very existence, Judah, is
this right here. You wouldn't exist except for
this right here. Except God made a covenant with
His Son before the foundation of the world in which He chose
a people and gave them to Christ. And there's a remnant according
to the election of grace who's going to come to Christ. He's
going to redeem them. And every blessing of salvation
Comes from him, come thou fount of every blessing. He's what
it's all about. Well, what are these blessings?
Well, look back at verse six. Let me just run down through
them here. Verse six. We sang that song, The Great
Physician. Right here he is. Behold, I will
bring it health and cure. And I will cure them and will
reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth, healing and
health through Christ, the Great Physician. Malachi chapter 3
talked about him, the son of righteousness arising with healing
in his wings and a revelation of abundance of peace and truth.
What disease do we have? It's S-I-N, sin. It's the disease
of sin. It's leprosy, which works its
way from the inside out. We fell in Adam, ruined by the
fall. And we all have that same problem,
sin. We're sinners. I mentioned in
the message earlier. And this is why Christ, the son
of righteousness, the branch of righteousness, had to come
and execute judgment and righteousness in the land. And that's this
reason, because when you make the statement that God saves
sinners or God forgives sin, you have just confronted a major,
major theological, legal, and ethical problem. And no man has
the answer to it. No religion of man has the answer
to it. And that's this. God cannot forgive
sin. He cannot save sinners without
justice being satisfied. He can't do it. He's a just God. He's a holy God. He's a righteous
God. He can't work like our human
courts. He can't bring a convicted criminal
in and a judge just say, I forgive you, you can go free. He can't
do that. When a judge does that, you know
what he does? He perverts justice. That's a crime in the court of
God's law. So the issue of the gospel, and
I tell people all the time, that's what we're going to be dealing
with this week in these messages, if you haven't confronted this,
you've never heard the gospel. I'm telling you. Preachers going up and down this
country, telling people, God loves you, Christ died for you,
if you'll just do your part. My friend, I wonder if they'd
have put that bumper sticker in Sodom, how that would have
gone over. Or put it on the back of the
ark during the flood. I was going through a bookstore
or something, where were we, Walmart or something, in their
book section, and I saw this religious book that's on the
bestseller list. the lady who wrote it standing
there, and the title of it was, God is not mad at you. God is
not mad. And I thought, well, I wonder
if they'd have read that in Sodom when the brimstone was coming
down, how they would have thought about it. Or when they're drowning in the
flood, Noah just passed out that book, you know. No, you didn't
need that book, you need to get on the ark. That ark is Christ.
You say, well, preacher, don't you believe God is love? Yes,
I do. I believe God is love, but his love is in Christ. And
outside of Christ, God is angry with the wicked every day. The wrath of God abides upon
any sinner who lives and dies without Christ. And for me to
sit up here and lie to you to make you feel good, That's what
Jeremiah, he had to confront false preachers that way. They
were crying peace when there was no peace. Jeremiah said,
God's wrath's coming on us. And these other preachers are
saying, oh, everything's fine. You're okay. You're the people
of God. Abraham's your father. You've
been circumcised. Peace, peace. Well, my friend,
sin is the problem that we all have. All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. And there's no hope for salvation
from sin except in the branch of righteousness. To execute
judgment and righteousness, that means to die in my place under
the wrath of God for my sins charged to him so that I can
have his righteousness imputed to me. And if you want to talk
about God's love, that's where it's at. And so when he talks
about, he says, I will bring health and cure. Here's a cure
for sin. Man doesn't have it, but God
does in his son. He's the Lord, our righteousness.
I think about that woman with the issue of blood in the book
of Mark and his version of it. He talks about how she went to
so many doctors and spent all of her money, and it says she
was worse off than before. That's like man in religion.
Go to this church, go to that church, hear this message, hear
that message, work your way here, do this, do that, and you end
up worse off. But you come somewhere and a
preacher points you to Christ and His blood and His righteousness
alone for salvation, for eternal life, for forgiveness, for righteousness. My friend, that's resting in
Christ. Look on, he says in verse 7, He says, I will cause the
captivity of Jacob and the captivity of Israel to return and will
build them as at the first. There's two things there. Number
one, there's liberty for the captives, freedom. And then there's
the building of the church. That's what he's talking about.
That liberty, Christ proclaims liberty to his people. We're
free from condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
in Christ. We're not guilty. And the only way that the guilty
conscience can be soothed is by the application of the blood
of Christ to put away my sins. I'm cleared of all guilt. I cannot
be punished. Why? Christ was punished in my
stead. If Christ died for you, you can't
be punished. Why? Because he executed judgment
and righteousness. God cannot send you to hell.
That would be unjust. That would be like a prisoner
serving his time according to the law, being released from
prison, and the judge saying, no, you're going back in. Well,
wait a minute. That's not right. That's the illegal. Now that
would be an unrighteous God. But God's not unrighteous, you
see. He sets the captives free. Based on what? Based on judgment
and righteousness established in the land. And then there's
liberation. By the power of the Holy Spirit
in the new birth, He sets us free from darkness and spiritual
death and brings us to a saving view of Christ. We're liberated. And that can't be taken away.
He builds His church. He said, as I said before, upon
this rock I will build my church. Look at verse eight, he says,
I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they've
sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby
they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against
me. What is he saying there? Well,
he's talking about the full free forgiveness of all sins based
upon execution of judgment and righteousness in the land. The
blood of bulls and goats couldn't take away sin. But the blood
of Christ, the debt paid, righteousness established, has taken away all
the sins of his people. That's a blessing, you see. In
this passage, in this verse here in verse 8, all three words in
the Hebrew for sin are used. There's iniquity, there's sin,
there's transgression. What is inequity? That's inequity.
It means you don't balance out, you don't measure up. The best
of men, the worst of men, man at his best states, altogether
vanity. No matter how good we try to
be, we cannot measure up to righteousness. Well, where's there any hope
for any of us then? Well, it's in Christ, the Lord,
our righteousness. He is my righteousness. He does
measure up. Act 1731, God's gonna judge this
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained and
that he hath given assurance unto all men and that he hath
raised him from the dead. Where am I gonna find righteousness?
You're not gonna find it in the church. You're not gonna find
it in the baptismal pool. You're not gonna find it even
in your faith. You can only find it in Christ.
Now believe in him. Rest in him. That's what this
is all about. And then verse 9, he says, and
it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before
all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good
that I do unto them, and they shall fear and tremble for all
the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto
it. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the blessing of witness there. The church will be a pillar
of truth, a witness for Christ. Israel under the old covenant
was not. God said, you profane my holy name among the heathen.
Israel under the old covenant. That's the, listen, that's the
way it always is when sinners are placed under a conditional
works-based covenant. And I want to tell you something.
I want you to think about this. That's what most churches do
today. They claim to preach Christ, claim to preach the gospel, and
they end up putting people under a works-based covenant. Do this, do that, earn this,
earn that. Work here, work there. give this
give that and that's what it's not what it's not it's what you
do for him not what he did for you and that's what they do that
profanes the name of God he says in verse 11 the voice of joy
the voice of gladness the voice of the bridegroom look at verse
10 Thus saith the Lord, again, there shall be heard in this
place which you shall be desolate without man and without beast,
even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that
are desolate without man and without inhabitant, without beast.
That's God's punishment against sin. That's man left to himself
there. And then verse 11, the voice
of joy. In that place where there's desolation and no hope, there's
going to be the voice of joy. And the voice of gladness, the
voice of the bridegroom, who's that? That's Christ, he's the
bridegroom. And the voice of the bride, who's that? That's
his church, that's his bride. the voice of them that shall
say praise the Lord of hosts for the Lord is good you know
there's some people say well now this is going to be filled
physically in Jerusalem when the Lord comes back well let
me ask you this when the Lord entered the land when he came
when he became incarnate and even after he he grew in wisdom
and stature and began to walk the land of of Israel were they
praising the Lord of hosts for his good is that what they were
doing absolutely not They didn't know Christ. They were so far
removed from the gospel promises of the Old Testament and the
Old Covenant had been turned into such a legal works-based
system of self-righteous religion that the Pharisees and the Sadducees
were their spiritual leaders. And you remember what Christ
said of them? The blind leading the blind. They all fall in the
ditch together. Well, who's this fulfilled in?
It's fulfilled in His church. We see a manifestation of it
on the day of Pentecost when Peter and the Apostles stood
up and preached Christ to the people, and 3,000 were born again
by the Spirit, brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works, and later on 5,000. And then they were dispersed
out into the Gentile world. He says in verse 11, for His
mercy endureth forever, and of them that shall bring the sacrifice
of praise into the house of the Lord. The sacrifice of praise
is worship. Worshiping God through Christ
prayer praying to God through Christ singing hymns singing
of the grace of God through Christ That's what we sang of For I
will cause to return the captivity of the land as at the first sayeth
the Lord speaking of redemption Look at verse 12. He says thus
again the Lord of hosts sayeth the Lord of hosts again in this
place Which is desolate without man without beast and in all
the cities thereof shall be an habitation of shepherds causing
their flocks to lay down." In that land where there was such
false preaching, false teaching, no truth, false shepherds, there's
going to be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
Who's he talking about? Preachers of the gospel. Those
who preach Christ. And you know what? What does
it mean they cause the people to lie down? It simply means
this, they point sinners to Christ. Reminds me of the 23rd Psalm,
he maketh me to lie down in green pasture. I can't change your
heart, I can't even change my own, but I can tell you who can. I can point you to Christ for
salvation, for forgiveness, for righteousness. That's what it
is to lie down, it's to rest in Christ. He says in verse 13,
in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, that's
the valley, the cities of the south, the land of Benjamin,
the places about Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, that's everywhere,
that's what he's talking about. In other words, there's no place
where this message is not going to be heard. He says, shall the
flocks, now listen to this, he said, pass under the hands of
him that telleth them, saith the Lord. What does that mean,
pass under the hands? Literally, here's what it would
say. pass under the hands of one who numbers them. He numbers
them. Who is the one who numbers them?
Well, that's God Almighty. He numbers His people. You don't
number them. I don't number them. He does.
We don't have that privilege and that honor and that wisdom
and knowledge. God numbers His people. How does He number them? This refers to an act of a shepherd
counting his sheep. That's what he's talking about.
It's an accounting of his sheep. Christ knows his sheep. Didn't
he say that in John chapter 10? He said, the good shepherd gives
his life for his sheep. He said, I know my sheep. He
said, my sheep will hear my voice. That's how they'll hear the preaching
of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit and they'll follow
Christ. Well, he's numbering them. Let
me give you three ways he gives an accounting of his sheep, he
numbers his sheep. First, they passed under his
hand, you might say it that way, in sovereign electing grace.
Counted in him and with him. Chosen by God in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Considered as sheep by grace
distinguished from others. An exact count was taken as their
names were written in heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life. And
God's seal is put on them. You know what God's seal is?
2 Timothy 2.19, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And then secondly,
they passed under his hand, they were accounted in effectual,
powerful, redeeming grace. Christ himself, the good shepherd,
gave his life for the sheep. That means he was numbered with
the transgressors. Our sins were charged to him,
imputed to him, and he gave his life under the wrath of his father
for his sheep. Our sins imputed to him and he
put them away. He paid our debt in full by his
death. That was our passing under his
hand. And then thirdly, they pass under
his hand in invincible, regenerating grace. That's when he brings
his sheep under the preaching of the gospel. And by the power
of the Holy Spirit, he raises them from the dead spiritually.
He gives them life and grace and knowledge. And they hear
his voice. They hear the shepherd's voice.
Not in a dream or a vision, but in the preaching of the gospel.
and they follow him. When Christ's mark of sanctification
is put upon us in our new birth, we come to know and to trust
Christ. And then there's really one more
we could talk about. They pass under his hand in final
glorifying grace at the last day when Christ shall deliver
us up to the Father. And he'll say, I and the children
or the sheep whom thou hast given me and we'll all be numbered,
and not one will be missing. There'll be no vacancies in heaven.
Well, he says in verse 14, behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will perform that good thing which I have promised under
the house of Israel to the house of Judah. You see, there is hope,
Israel. That's what he's saying. There
is hope for that remnant. Christ is coming. That's what
Jeremiah's saying. We tell people today, there's
hope, Because Christ has already come. He's already accomplished
his great work. He's already redeemed his people.
They've already passed under his hand in sovereign electing
grace and sovereign redeeming grace. And now we're just going
out seeking the sheep. That's why we preach. That's
why we do these videos. That's why we're on television.
All of these things. That's why we're here in this
town. Just seeking the sheep. You know what, he'll bring them
in, he'll give them life, and they'll hear his voice, and they'll
follow him.