So good to be here today. Open your Bibles if you went
to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 24. Jeremiah chapter 24. You know,
God said a long time ago that his elect are his people. And he's emphasized it through
the scripture, saying, they shall, they shall, they shall be my
people. What a hope we have. What a comfort
we have. Now in this world, there are
some things that are sure to occur. We're going to pay taxes,
aren't we? We're going to die. Those are two things that usually
come up when the subject of things that are sure to occur is brought
up. Now, when men and women in this
world say things are going to happen, they either hope they're
going to happen or they hope they will not happen, one or
the other. And we have no way to control
tomorrow, do we? We have no way to control what's
going to happen in the future. Only God is the controller of
those things. Whether we breathe our last breath
today or whether we breathe our last breath in years to come,
we have no control over that. No control over that. And that
scares men. That scares men and women. It
doesn't scare God's people. But it scares natural man, whether
they admit it or not. Because we humans like to be
in control of things. And when we breathe our last
breath, it's something that we're not in control of. In Jeremiah chapter 24, the Holy
Spirit of God had Jeremiah pen these words before us, under
the picture of good and bad figs. good and bad figs. He's going
to use this illustration to show us the difference between his
elect and the unelect, the lost, those
who never will come to Christ. And he's going to show us the
state of his faithful people in the sad end of the ungodly. And it's a sad end. It's a sad end, beloved. Christ
died on the cross because of God's judgment against our sins. and praise God that God's judgment
for our sins for his people fell upon Christ, but for those who
are not in Christ, that judgment is going to fall upon them. Jeremiah 24 1, it says, the Lord,
being Jehovah, showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were
set before the temple of the Lord. After that, Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, had carried away captive Jehoiachin, Jeconiah,
the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and the princes of
Judah with the carpenters and smiths from Jerusalem, and he
had bought them to Babylon. Now the names of these two Hebrew
men in verse 1, one being a prince and the other a king, have meaning
as we go forward in this study. Jeconiah in Hebrew means Jehovah
will establish. Jehovah will establish. I love
how the names of old had such meaning. Jehovah will establish. And the name, the king's name
Jehoakim in Hebrew means Jehovah raises up. So Jehovah will establish
and Jehovah raises up. One name brings forth that Jehovah
is the one who establishes And the other name brings forth that
the name Jehovah is the one, or the name Jehoakim means Jehovah
raises up. My oh my. And we find that in
the latter part of this study, that Jehovah raises up his people. Take note in this first verse
that there are two baskets of figs. Behold, two baskets of figs were
set before the temple of the Lord. Two baskets of figs. We're seeing in the next few
verses that these baskets pictured the Jews that were in captivity
with Jeconiah. And those that remained in Jerusalem
with Zedekiah is also explained in some of the following verses.
These baskets are said to be set before the temple of the
Lord, not to be sold, but these are
presented to the Lord. Presented to the Lord in Deuteronomy
26, 2, it says, Thou shalt take of the firstfruits of the fruit
of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land, that the Lord
thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in the basket, and shalt
go into the place where the Lord thy God shall choose to place
his name there. So he's chosen to place his name
there in Jerusalem. There's no other place where
the worship of God is done. He's chosen to place his name
there. And so these two baskets are offerings to the Lord. Offerings to the Lord. Look at verses two and three
now of Jeremiah chapter 24. One basket had very good figs,
even like the figs that are first ripe. And the other basket had
very naughty, which is bad or evil in the Hebrew, figs which
could not be eaten. Why would someone bring figs
that couldn't be eaten? And they were so bad that they
couldn't be eaten because it says at the end of that verse,
they were so bad. It's like when you buy a box
of strawberries. We bought some strawberries and
raspberries a couple weeks ago. Forgot they were in the fridge.
They didn't look very edible after a week and a half. They
had that white stuff growing on them. So what happened? They went right in the garbage,
right? My. So these, one basket's good,
and one basket's so bad that they can't even be eaten. Then
said the Lord unto me, what seest thou, Jeremiah? And Jeremiah
said, I see figs. I see very good figs. and very
evil figs, which is just bad figs. Very evil. Very bad. And cannot be eaten. They are
so evil. So bad. So let us consider the
two baskets, is those in Christ by the grace of God, and those
outside of Christ. But both under the same providence.
The same sun shined down upon the trees where these figs would
be picked, right? Same rain fell upon them, all according to God's providence. And we see here Christ being
to one a basket, a savior of death and unto death, and to
the other a basket by the grace and mercy of God to be made a
saver of life unto life. One's a good basket, and one's
a bad basket. They're both figs, aren't they?
Same composition. Come from the same kind of trees. But one's bad. One's so bad you
couldn't even eat them. And one are so good you'd want
to grab one right away. I don't eat figs. So I'm not
a big fig eater. So, but if you like figs, you'd
be wanting to go to that first basket. You'd be wanting to eat
those things so fast, you know. But they both had the same advantages
and disadvantages, didn't they? Well, they had the same sun,
same climate, same water again that fell upon them. Same kind
of tree they came from, yet we see in verse two that they were
a direct opposite character. One's bad, rotten, so rotten
you couldn't eat them, and the other ones are so good. The rain fell on both fruit in
the baskets, the sun shined on both the fruit in the baskets,
and yet one basket is full of good fruit, and the other is
full of rotten figs. What a picture of how God makes
us to differ, beloved. How God makes us to differ. One from another. It's so clear
and so evident in this picture before us. One could also say
that one basket represents workspace religion full of rotten fruit. Full of rotten fruit. And he hath a grace, good fruit,
brought forth not by man, but by the Holy Spirit of God working
in us. See, it's called the fruit of
the Spirit. It's not the fruit of my doing or your doing, right? It's not the fruit of our doing.
It's the fruit of the Spirit. And he works that in us, beloved.
joy, love, peace. He works that in us. It doesn't
come to us by nature, does it? You ever notice how it's easier
to complain than to be joyful? All right? Do you ever notice how quickly
you can despise someone that does you wrong rather than love
them? It's the same for all of us,
beloved. It's the same for all of us. Let's continue in this text.
Look at verse 4. And the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Now, as we read these verses, verses 5 to 10,
take note of the verbiage set before us by God the Holy Spirit.
Remember, He's the true author of these words. And notice the words that we
look at, I have, I will, they shall, and I shall. Notice these
words as we read these verses. Again, I have, I will, they shall,
and I shall. All these words speak of what
our great God is going to do. And we see that we who are the
born again blood washed children of God, we've experienced these
things in Christ by the grace of God. what's brought forth
in these verses. We've experienced mercy and grace
in Christ. Look at verse 5. Now this shows
us too that our God, as we looked at a few weeks back, He's the
sovereign controller. He's in charge of all things.
He's absolutely the ruler of all. So if He's the ruler of
all, should I be stressed out about things that normally stress
me out? No, I really shouldn't be, should
I? No, and I'm learning, I'm learning to look to Christ more
and more every day. And it gives me peace to do that. Now, again, I'm learning just
like everybody else. We preachers aren't super guys,
we're just normal believers who the Lord's called to preach,
that's all. Again, the ground's level, right? I say that every
sermon, the ground's level at the foot of the cross. There's
no preacher hump, there's no, we're level, we're on level ground,
beloved. We all struggle with the same
things. Look what's brought forth here. Thus saith the Lord, the
God of Israel, Elohim of Israel. Like these good fakes, so will
I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I
have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for
their good." Look who sent them there. The Babylonians came in, took
them out of their land, and took them back. Do you see how God
uses kings and nations to do His will? Now, for those Jews,
they wouldn't think, well, God's doing this for our good when they're being hauled off
to Babylon. Think of that in our lives when we go through
things. We don't think right away, well, this is for my good
and for God's glory. What's God trying to teach me
here? We don't think that. We're just like, oh my. Sometimes
we are, right? Sometimes we grumble. My, I'm, but in this verse it's
so clear that they're carried away according to the will of
God. Look, because he says, whom I have sent out of this place,
being Jerusalem, into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For their good. You ever been
driving down the road and all of a sudden you think, oh, I
got to go in there, a gas station there, and I need to get a drink
or something? And you go in there, you get
a drink, and you get back on the road, and you drive down
the road, maybe a mile or two, and there's a really bad car
accident that just happened. My, oh, my. Do you think like
I think and go, look what the Lord had me miss? I'll tell you, there are more
times than we even know that that happens, beloved. I'll tell
you. And this was for their good.
Look at verse six, for I will set my, look at this, I will
set mine eyes upon them for good. He's not sending them away into
Babylon to work evil on them. No, not at all, our God is good,
isn't he? And he watches over his people
like a shepherd. And he says, here, I'm gonna
send them for their good, and I'm gonna watch over them for
their good. I'm going to watch over them. Think of that when
we're going through trials and situations in our lives. He's
not inflicting pain upon us because he wants to. It's for our good,
beloved. And usually when we come out
of the other side of that, we're going, praise be to God. Look
what he delivered me from. Look what he did. He's wondrous. He's marvelous. He says, for I will set mine
eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this
land. So he's saying, I'm going to bring them back. I'm going
to send them out, and I'm going to bring them back. Oh, my. I'll bring them again to this
land, and I will build them up. Who's doing all the work here? It's God, isn't it? Oh my, this is amazing. I will build them up and not
pull them down. He's not gonna destroy them. And I will plant them and not
pluck them up. I'm gonna plant them firm. And note the verbiage in verse
six. I'll set my eyes upon them for good. You know there's four
I wills in verse six alone. For I will set mine eyes upon
them, I will bring them again to this land, I will build them
and not pull them down, I will plant them and not pluck them
up. Four I wills right there in one verse. God says I'm gonna do this. Now
do you think what God says is gonna come to pass? Absolutely. They're gonna be carried down.
He's going to watch over them. He will bring them back to the
land. All by His almighty power, beloved. People say, well, this country's
a threat against our country. This country's a threat against
our country. Well, only if God allows. Now, should we be prepared as
a nation? Of course. But God's only going
to allow what happens. happens to any country if he allows it. There's nothing
that's going to happen to any country in this world unless
he allows it to happen. This is his world, beloved. And you know this world will
keep producing trees and fuel until he says you don't produce
it anymore. You ever think of that? I thought
about that when we moved from Oregon. There's so many trees
out in Oregon, I'm telling you. There's so much dog fur out in
Oregon. You could make a billion toothpicks
so easy, it wouldn't be funny. There's so many trees. So many
trees. And you know, God, from the time
of Adam till now, has kept this world going, hasn't he? Now,
should we be good stewards of this world? Of course, yeah.
No one would say we shouldn't be. But it's his world, isn't
it? And he's going to keep it producing
until the last sheep is saved, and then I'll tell you what,
it's all rolling up like a scroll. People talk about global warming.
Let me tell you about global warming. When the Lord says he burns this
world in fire, that'll be global warming, won't it? And I'm not trying to be, you
know, that's true. I told my daughter that. She
says, oh, the world, Dad's gonna, oh, the, I said, well, they're
gonna be global warming already. She's like, Dad. I said, no,
it's true. This is true. This will happen. This whole
world will roll up and burn up like a scroll. This whole universe
will roll up like a scroll. burn up and there be a new heaven
and a new earth beloved wherein dwells righteousness no sin no
curse on the world my it'll be amazing look at verse 7 and I'll
give them a new heart to know me well that means that we have
an old heart that don't know him right in our natural state, do we know
God? No, we have an idea of who we've cooked up in our mind,
who God is, but it's not the God of the Bible, right? So he says, I'm gonna give you
a new heart. I'm gonna give the, again, who's given it? God's
given it. You see, praying a prayer has
replaced Holy Spirit regeneration. It's God who gives us a new heart,
beloved. And when he gives us a new heart, he also gives us
faith to believe. So regeneration always precedes
faith. And then when we're born again
in the Holy Spirit of God, we're given faith, what do we do? We
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? To the saving of our
souls. And therefore, we give God all
the glory and all the honor and all the praise. It's him who
does. This is a great work of God. God, the Holy Spirit, does
an operation in us, beloved. Gives us a heart transplant.
Our ticker's still here, but he gives us a new heart, don't
he? That hungers and thirsts after righteousness, which is
Christ Jesus, our Lord. Do you hunger and thirst after
Christ? Did you do it before you were saved? I didn't. Now
I hunger and thirst after Christ. My, he's everything, isn't he?
You ladies sing praises to him in song, and my, and we get to
sing praises to him in his congregation, and it just fills my heart with
joy when we do that. To lift our voices up to sing
praises to the great God and King. What a privilege. And that comes from a new heart.
And look, look at this. And I will give them a heart
to know me, that I am the Lord. Now we know he's God over all,
don't we? We didn't know that before. Now
we know that, beloved. And they shall be my people.
Oh, there's the title of the message. They shall be my people. There's no doubt there, is there?
Is there a doubt there? Is it, well, they might be if
they make a decision for me. Or if they join a certain church,
no, it's they shall be. They shall be my people. They
shall be God's born-again, blood-washed people. They shall be his people. And I will be their God, their
strength, their savior, their redeemer. For they shall return
unto me with their whole hearts. See, we fell in Adam, didn't
we? And we're born dead in trespasses and sins. Have enmity with God
in our hearts. Even if a person says, well,
I don't have enmity with God, you're lying. If you're in a
natural state, you have enmity with God. I told you before,
I had a lady who I preached to, and she said to me, well, I never
had enmity with God. And I said, well, you weren't
saved then. Because that's one thing that
God reveals to our hearts, doesn't it? That whether we said those
words, we still felt it, didn't we? By our actions and the things
that we, my very actions that I did before the Lord saved me
said that I was at enmity with God. My, oh my. And yet He still had
mercy on me, and on you. Isn't that amazing? That's what
makes grace amazing grace. How can it be that Thou, my God,
loves me? Oh my, oh my. And then, look at that, verse
7 is just wonderful. He's speaking of the people here
who are represented by the good figs. That's who he's speaking
of here in verse 7. Those who are represented as
the good figs be given a heart to know Jehovah. And each time
you see Lord capitalize that in the scriptures, it's Jehovah.
The word know there, A heart to know me, the word
know there in the Hebrew is defined as to learn, to perceive, to
discern, to experience, to confess, to consider, to know people relationally. Now we have a relationship with
God. We know him now. As the definition brings forth,
we've learned of him. We perceive him now when we didn't
perceive him before. We experience his love now. We
confess that he's our God. So they'll be given a heart to
understand, to recognize, and to be acquainted with Jehovah. I ask you, is this not what happens
when God the Holy Spirit regenerates us when we're born again of the
Holy Spirit of God? And note also, they shall be
my people, and I will be their God. I ask you this, can anyone
resist Elohim? Can anyone resist God? If He says, you're gonna be my
people, you're gonna be one of my people for eternity, can anyone
say, well, No, not if I decide not to. I believe in invincible grace,
which means the grace of God comes to us and it's invincible. It destroys all resistance. It
crushes all resistance to our great God. And we love our king now because
we have a new heart given to us. If God didn't give us that
new heart, then we would want nothing to do with God. But now that he's given us a
new heart, oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love him. He's wonderful.
He's the fairest of 10,000 to my soul. My. No one can resist the power of
God. One may be mighty in power in
this world. You think of the richest man
in the world. It's either that Amazon fella or Bill Gates, but
you think of those guys. Could they ever resist God? No. No, not at all. There are nothing
in his eyes. Even all their money is nothing
in God's eyes. You know that? They have more
money than I ever have, but it's nothing in God's eyes. And you
know that you beloved, you beloved of God, I'm going to say this,
I've said it many times, I'm going to say it again. You, child
of God, born again, blood-washed child of God, you are far richer
than those two men in Christ. You have more riches than they
ever will have, because see, their riches are going to fade
away. It's going to go to somebody else. But your riches, they're
eternal riches in Christ. And you have an inheritance already
set waiting for you in heaven, reserved for you in heaven, undefiled,
where nothing can get at it, in Christ. And you have all spiritual
blessings in Christ. I've often thought of that. Here
we are, we have all spiritual blessings in Christ. And men
treasure gold and silver, right? Wealth and power. And here we
are, we just want to serve the Lord now, don't we? Now that
we're born again by the Holy Spirit, we just want to serve
the Lord. We just want to live in this life peaceably, right?
And we're looking forward to going home to be with the Lord
forever, aren't we? And we want to tell others when
the Lord opens the door, don't try to shove the door open yourself,
but when the Lord opens the door, speak freely about the great
things God has done for you. The wonderful things he's done
for you. It's amazing. So I'm looking at the richest
people, far richer than those two men they call the richest
men in the world. I'm looking at people who are
far richer than them in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Well, people
say, well, you can't see your riches. Oh, my riches are in
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He owns everything.
All the cattle on the hills are his. All this whole world is His.
All the universe and things we can't even see are all His. Oh
my. And I have all spiritual blessings
in Him? Woo! My. That's amazing. That's amazing. But it's true.
It's true. One may be mighty in strength,
but they cannot resist Elohim. They cannot resist Jehovah. The
strong one will crush them with no effort at all. And the strong
one being God. You're crushing. He's the one
who holds the very breath they breathe. No one can resist the
mighty Elohim. And when he stops that breath,
that's it. That's it. We're gone. Either to heaven or to hell.
No in between. gone. Let's read verses 8 to
10 now. And as the evil figs which cannot
be eaten, they are so evil, surely thus saith Jehovah, so will I
give Zedekiah the king of Judah and his princes in the residue
of Jerusalem that remain in this land and then that dwell in the
land of Egypt. And I will deliver them to be
removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt,
to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places,
whether I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the
famine, the pestilence among them till they be consumed from
off the earth, from off the land that I give unto them and to
their fathers." Wow. My, oh my, God's no one to mess
with, is he? He is no one, and notice, it's him doing all this. It's him. My, verses four to 10, the Lord
himself becomes the preacher, doesn't he? Jeremiah the prophet
just penning these words. God's the one saying, I'm gonna
do this, and I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna do this, and they
shall be my people, and I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna do this.
And all this came to pass, beloved. The historical context of these
verses show us that the bad feeks represented Zedekiah and his
court who were still in the land and who were then reigning king
of Judah. But he was placed in that position
by the king of Babylon. He was just a puppet. He wasn't God's king, was he?
Now God had allowed the Babylonian king to put him in position,
but we see in verses 8 to 10, my oh my, woe unto him. My oh my. The good feeks referred
to the Lord's faithful ones who were now in captivity. They'd
been separated by God, hadn't they? in a very unusual way,
but they'd been separated by God and taken into the land of
the Chaldeans. And then he was going to deliver
them back into this land. Truly the words of Isaiah in
Isaiah 3, 10, and 11 are brought forth with us. Say ye to the
righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat
the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked, it shall
be ill with him, for the reward of his hand shall be given him.
Don't, you know, people who are evil, they're not getting away
with nothing, beloved. They're not getting away with
nothing. People outside of Christ, they think they're getting away
with something, they're not getting away with nothing. No, no, no. God sees all. Look at verses
eight and nine again of our text, and notice how the Lord brings
forth what Moses said. Look what he says here. And as
the evil figs which cannot be eaten, they are so evil. Surely, thus saith the Lord,
so will I give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his princes,
and the residue of Jerusalem that remain in the land, and
them that dwell in the land of Egypt. And I will deliver them
to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their hurt
to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places. Contrast this with this in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 28 verses 36 and 37 says the Lord shall bring
thee and thy king which shall set over thee unto a nation which
neither thou nor thy fathers have known and there shall and
there shall thou serve other gods wood and stone and thou
shall become an astonishment a proverb a byword among all
nations whether the Lord shall lead thee so exactly what Moses
said came to pass My oh my. The Lord here by his
prophet Jeremiah brings forth the tremendous judgments which
he had designed to bring upon this wicked prince and those
who were with him. I'll tell you what, God's judgment
is going to fall on those who are outside of Christ. It's going
to fall on them, whether they believe it or not, it's going
to fall on them. God, in the words of Moses, the
man of God, held in high esteem by the Jews, who they held in
great reverence, talks about this wicked king
and the people who are represented in the basket of bad figs. And it will be a just accomplishment
of what he had threatened in his law, by which they ought
to have taken warning, but they didn't. They didn't take any
warning. And many hear that the judgment
of God will fall upon them outside of Christ, and they don't heed
His warning. And we'd have been in the same
position if it wouldn't be for the grace of God. Because we were there before,
right? I heard the gospel before the
Lord saved me, and I just... I'm a good person. I was in for a big surprise,
wasn't I? My oh my, there are none good,
no not one. So one shouldn't scoff at God. One shouldn't scoff at God at
all. Look what verse 7 says, and I will give them in heart
to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and
I will be their God. Again, speaking of the good fruit.
And they shall return unto me with their whole heart." And having taken note of the
I wills in these verses, it makes it very evident and clear that
our great and glorious God is sovereign over all, doesn't it?
He is sovereign, beloved. He is sovereign over all things
visible and invisible. There's absolutely nothing that
escapes His eyes. Nothing. Not even our sin. But yet, here we are, still sinners,
and yet forgiven by God. My. That doesn't even really comprehend
with our minds, does it? But it's true. God's people are totally forgiven
of all their sins. And verse seven brings that forth
so far. He makes some some definite statements
here before us. Some definite statements, he
says, I will give them a new heart. I'm going to do that.
God says, I'm going to do that. I'm going to give them a new
heart that they might know me. But I'm the Lord. And then, they shall be my people.
Have you ever sat down and just pondered that thought? That God
said, they shall be my people, even before we were even born?
You ever contemplated that? Think about that through the
week. Meditate upon that through the week. That before we were
even born, God said, and when he says, they shall be my people,
he's speaking of all the elect of all the ages. He's gonna give
us a new heart. This is even before it's done.
This is even before Christ come. See, Christ is a lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, isn't he? Planned and purposed
by God. And he says, They shall be my
people. Put your name in there. Shall
be my people. That's amazing. Because he's
God though, right? He knows all things. See, our
little finite minds, we only know what we know, right? What
we've experienced or what we've learned. He doesn't learn. He's God. He
already knows everything. He can't grow in wisdom because
he is wisdom. He can't grow in knowledge because
he has all knowledge. He holds the future, beloved.
He knows everything that's going to happen to us so minutely in
our lives that he's made provision for every one of those things
for his people. He says, I'm going to watch over
you. And I'm going to care for you for your good. For your good. Isn't that wonderful?
That's amazing. Our God is incredible, beloved. And then he says, I will be your
God. Even before we're even born. I'll be your God. I planned and
purposed it. He's saying this stuff even before
it's happened. And he says, if we're like this,
they shall return unto me with their whole heart. Everything we have. Oh, Lord,
you're my everything. You're my everything, Lord. You're
my everything. Look at verse 6 again, for I
will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them
again to this land, and I will build them up and not pull them
down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. So he's going
to bring the people back from the land of the Chaldeans back
to Jerusalem. What does this bring forth when
he says, I will set mine eyes upon them for good? It brings
forth his knowledge. his knowledge of things that
will happen even before they happen. It brings forth his providence
for them in their care. Do you see how intimately he's
involved in our lives? That even the very hairs of our
heads, that's why the scripture says the very hairs of our heads
are numbered. He's so intimately involved in our lives, beloved.
Sometimes we get so busy, oh, God's forgotten. No, he's not
forgotten you. He's not forgotten you. He's had his eye upon you
from the day you were conceived. And he'll keep his eye on you
till the day you die, and then you'll see him face to face.
Isn't that amazing? And his eye will never be not
upon you. It says here, he sets his eye
upon them for good. That's what he does for all his
people. And he says, for I, speaking
of Elohim himself, Jehovah himself, I will set mine eyes upon them.
The mighty one, the strong and mighty one, I'll set my eyes
upon them. And then divine attention will set my eyes. When you're
talking to somebody, you set your eyes upon them, right? Listening
to them. He set his eyes upon you and I, beloved. Think of
that. We're the objects of his love.
We're the objects of his care. We're the objects of his mercy.
We're the objects of his grace. And then he instructs us, doesn't
he? And then notice the personal affection here, upon them. A
specific people. Upon them who you give a new
heart to. Upon them. My oh my. And then great kindness. For their good. What great kindness? For their good. You have mercy upon us. In a
little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. In the description of deliverance,
I will bring them into this land, out of Egypt, out of the land
of Chaldeans, out of idol worship, into his land. What does God do when he takes
us out of this world? He brings us home, beloved. To where he
dwells. A land where there's no sin.
A land where the people of God rejoice to sing praises to the
great God and King. And how will he bring us back?
We fell in Adam. How can we be brought back? By
the death of his son, beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. By the
shedding of his precious blood. redeemed by the blood of Christ. And here, plant us. Were plants
planted in his garden, an enclosed garden, beloved, protected by
God? That's about fourth in Song of
Solomon, that we're a garden enclosed, beloved. My. And here, build us up. Here,
plant us. and not pluck us up. And who is the foundation? Christ
and Him crucified. Christ is the foundation of our
faith. Christ is our all in all. And then the results. I'll give
them a heart to know me. I'll give them a heart to know
me. What a gracious God. What a covenant keeping God.
What a faithful God. What a mighty God. The one true
living God. The God of salvation to his people. What mercy he shows us. And they
shall be my people and I will be their God. How? By the regenerating power
of God the Holy Spirit. By ruling their understanding. Subduing their rebellious will. And we love that, don't we? As
God's people, we love that. And what's the result of this
wonderful work? They shall return unto me with
their whole hearts. Positively, nothing shall prevent
them, for they shall return. Warmly, their hearts shall be
delighted in returning. Look at verse seven, and I will
give them in heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall
return unto me with their whole heart. Joyful, joyfully returned
to the king. Here are five facts that God
will make known to his people through the word of God. There
are some men and women in this world whom God has chosen. Salvation
from eternity, chosen to salvation from eternity, and they must
be saved. John 15, 16 says, you have not chosen me, but I have
chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth
fruit, and that your fruit shall remain, that whatsoever you shall
ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. Two, the
Lord Jesus Christ has made full atonement for the sins of those
people, the sins of his elect, full atonement. He has redeemed
them from the curse of the law by his own precious, precious
blood. Galatians says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. And three, all God's elect
have been redeemed by the precious, precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Purchased by his blood. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and caused us to approach unto him. See, he's caused us
to approach unto him by the blood of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That he may dwell in thy courts and we shall be satisfied with
the goodness of thy house and of thy holy temple. My repentance
towards God, faith in Christ, and eternal life are all the
result of the Spirit's call of being born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, effectively wrought in God's elect, not offered to
them, but all by His almighty grace. It's His work. It's His
work. and for the means by which God's
elect are born again, called and given. Faith in Christ is
the preaching of the gospel. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. And fifthly, there is a specific
day appointed by God in which each of his elect will be called
to life and faith in Christ by the gospel. There's a gospel
day for every single one of those who here give a new heart to.
God will see to it that the sinner whom he has chosen will be in
the place he has ordained with his heart prepared to receive
that seed. the gospel at the appointed time. He will send his word to that
sinner by a preacher in the irresistible power and grace of God the Holy
Spirit. In that day, in that day, God says regarding every
chosen redeemed sinner, they shall be my people.