Morning, everyone. We have a
beautiful day today. It's incredible to be getting
this weather from, we weren't here last year in November, but
everyone's telling me this is not normal. So, very thankful,
very thankful. Today, we'll be in Jeremiah chapter
33. The name of the message is God's will. God's will. Jeremiah chapter 33. When God says, I will, it'll
come to pass. There is no doubt. No doubt at all. Isaiah 33, starting
in verse 1. The word of the Lord came unto
Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court
of the prison, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the Maker thereof,
the Lord that formed it, to establish it, the Lord is his name. Call
unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty
things which thou knowest not. For thus saith the Lord, the
God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning
the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the
mounts and by the sword. They came to fight with the Chaldeans,
but it was to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I
have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose
wickedness I have hid my face from this city. Behold, I will
bring it health and cure, And I will cure them and will reveal
unto them the abundance of peace and truth. Remember the scripture
that Brother Matt read in chapter 30 relating to this too. And
I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they
have sinned against Me. And I will pardon all their iniquities. Notice the I wills. I will. This is God saying this. I will. I will pardon all their iniquities
whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed
against Me. And it shall be to Me a name of joy, of praise,
and of 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. Thus saith the Lord again, there
shall be heard in this place which ye say 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 and without beast. the voice of joy, the
voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice
of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord
of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth forever,
and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into
the house of the Lord, for I will cause to return the captivity
of the land, as at first saith the Lord." So here in these verses
we see God saying, I will. God telling us His will, and
what He will do. And now, we as men often say,
I'll do this, or I'll do that. And often times, we lack either
the means to do it, or we lack the power to do it, or sometimes
we just forget to do it. But when God says, I will, When
the God of glory, the sovereign God of the universe, the one who is in control of
all things, says, I will, it shall come to pass. It shall
come to pass. Because He has all power. He
lacks nothing. What He says always comes to pass. He doesn't
forget what He says. He doesn't say, well, I'll do
it later. No. What He decrees, what He says,
shall come to pass. Now let us consider here in our
text our great sovereign God, the Lord Himself saying, I will. And let us consider again that
He has all the power to do these things. He has all the strength. That He reigns supreme. That He reigns absolutely supreme. And again, when He says, I will,
it shall come to pass. And let us be reminded also that
when God says, I will, no man can thwart Him. No man. Nothing can thwart His
will. Nothing can stop His will. No
one. Not angels, not Satan, not man. No one. No one at all. His will is an
almighty, sovereign will. And He has all power to do that
which He proclaims will come to pass. And let us consider
this also in our text before us, that we have a picture of
the gospel of God's grace in a providential picture right
here before us. And I pray as always that God
the Holy Spirit would illuminate the Scriptures and teach us,
teach us, enlighten our minds to the things of Christ. Now
we know from Scripture that Israel in the Old Testament is a type
and picture of the church. We know that from scriptures
we've studied before. And Paul tells us this in Romans
15, verse 4. Turn there if you would. Romans 15, 4. Paul tells us that these were written for our
learning. Romans 15, 4. These types and pictures in the
Old Testament are for our learning, to teach us, to teach us patience,
to comfort us, and to give us hope, to give we who believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ hope as we see God deliver Israel
time after time and after time. It gives us hope. We know He
delivers us, we as believers. He delivers us time after time
after time, doesn't He? Continuously. And one day He'll
take us home to glory. Look at Romans 15, 4. For whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning,
that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope. Do you have hope? We live in
a world of no hope. I talked to my daughter, she's
25 years old, and I asked her about her generation. And I said,
honey, does your generation have a lot of hope? And she says,
no, not at all. Not at all. Not the folks she hangs around
with or does things with. They don't have any hope. They're
aimless. But believers have hope. Now,
I remember being like that. I remember when I was lost. Now,
I had stuff. But deep down, I had no hope.
My hope was in myself, thinking, well, maybe I'll be good enough
to make it to heaven. And then someone bought the scriptures
before me, and the scripture says there's none righteous,
no, not one. Now I really had no hope. Then God revealed Christ. Oh, what a hope. What a hope. You have a hope in Christ. If
you don't, I pray God will give you one, that He grant you one.
Oh my. So as we look and see how the
Israelites again were delivered time after time, we see how our
great sovereign God delivers the church, His elect. Delivered
from temptations and trials all through our lives. As we see
our great sovereign provision for the people of Israel as they
walk through the desert, didn't they? They walked through the
desert for 40 years. We can glean great comfort knowing that as
we walk through the deserts of life and upon this earth, that
our great God will comfort us and will give us an oasis. And
where's that oasis found? It's not found in ourselves,
is it? It's only found in Christ. It's only found in Christ and
Him alone. So we can look at the Old Testament and see what
occurred with Israel and know that all things happened unto
them for examples, and they're written for our admiration, upon
whom the ends of the world are come, 1 Corinthians 10-11. Now here in our text, Israel
was taken into captivity by the Chaldeans, and then Israel was
delivered by God's decree. Look down in verse 26 of the
same chapter we read. In all this, the captivity and
the deliverance all occurred according to God's sovereign
decree. It all occurred according to
God's sovereign decree. It was all by His will. Jeremiah
33, verse 26. It all happened by His sovereign
decree. Then will I cast away the seed
of Jacob and David, My servant, so that I will not take any of
his seed, and be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. For I will cause their captivity
to return, and have mercy on them." What a picture we have before
us, beloved. Just like national Israel was
taken into the captivity by the Chaldeans, we were taken captive by sin. taken captive by sin, and were
held accountable by the holy justice of God, every single
human being, whether they believe it or not. And let us marvel
at this picture. Just as national Israel was delivered
from the Chaldeans by the decree of God, which we saw in verse
26, God's elect were delivered by the decree of God from their
sin, from Satan, And they were freed from the claim that the
law and justice of God had upon us by Christ blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary
to us. And he took it, nailing it to
his cross. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. All things occur. All things work together for
good, for God's people. Look at Romans 8. 28-30. And
think of this in light of how Israel was taken into captivity.
And then they were released. Think of how we come into this
world born dead in trespasses and sin. And then, we who are
redeemed, God saves us. He saves us. And we know, look
at verse 28, and we know that all things work together for
good. A lot of people stop right there. But who is this for? To them that love God. To them
who are called according to His purpose. So all things work together for
good for God's people. For whom He did foreknow. He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called." And remember this,
people get all upset about predestination. Predestination is we're predestined
to be conformed to the image of Christ. What Christian? I've
not met one Christian yet who doesn't want to be conformed
to the image of Christ. It's amazing. Then He also called. He calls
those who will never seek Him by the drawing of the Holy Spirit.
In whom He called, then He also justified. God's law is satisfied
for the believer. In whom He justified, then He
also glorified. Brother Joe is now glorified.
Sister Marge is now glorified. Brother Wayne is now glorified.
My, my goodness. And one day, all of us who believe,
everyone who is a believer, shall be glorified. My goodness, what
a great God. Let's go back to our text in
Jeremiah 33. Now before we consider the I
wills which are found in verses 6 to 9, I'd like us to take note
of verse 2. And I hope it will help us to
see how our great God moves and works in His works of providence. Now it was decreed by God that
Israel would be taken into captivity. It was also decreed by God that
they'd be released. That they'd be released. Have
you ever thought of this? Okay, you who are a believer,
think of this. In light of God's providence,
you were born at the exact time that God decreed for you to be
born. You were born of your parents because God decreed that. You were born where you were
born by God's sovereign decree. You were moved around to wherever
you moved to in your life by God's sovereign decree. And you
who believe, it was decreed that you would hear the voice of the
shepherd in the preaching of his word. And when you look back
at that and you look to the point where God revealed himself to
you, you will be amazed at how God had it all work out for you
to hear the gospel. It's incredible. My grandparents
came from France to England to Canada. And then I ended up in
Oregon. But that was all decreed by God
so that I would hear the gospel. It's amazing. It's incredible. Our God is a sovereign God. Look
at verses 1-2, Now this prophecy here brings forth great comfort
for those who are held captive in our text. It gives the captives hope. It
keeps them from sinking into despair. And we will look at
the I wills of this wonderful scripture, this portion of scripture
later on. But let us look at this here,
that God is the Lord, the maker thereof, the Lord that formed
it to establish it. The Lord is his name. He's absolutely
sovereign. And God, remember this too, God
reveals to His saints, He reveals Christ to whomever He's pleased. Whenever He's pleased. And the time that He reveals
Christ to us is the exact time that He's decreed. That's how
sovereign our God is. He's absolutely sovereign. And
those who have been released from the captivity of our sins,
we keep looking to Christ. We never stop. And think of this,
when we get the glory, we'll keep looking to Him. Because
He's the one we'll worship in the door. Turn over one chapter to Jeremiah
32, verses 17 to 27. And let's consider what's found in verse
2. of our text, and I'll read it
again. Thus saith the Lord, the Maker thereof, the Lord that
formed it to establish it. The Lord is His name. Look at
Jeremiah 32. Ah, the Lord. Verse 17. Ah, Lord
God, behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great
power. He's the one who's made the heavens and the earth. And
stretched out arm. And there is nothing too hard
for Thee. Now some say, well, I'm such a sinner. You don't
know how terrible of a sinner I am. Well, God saved me, He
can save anyone. Because I'm a sinner saved by
grace. I'm just a sinner saved by grace.
Mercy, I obtain mercy. And the one who saved me is the
one spoken of in this text. Is there nothing too hard for
thee? Thou showest loving kindness unto thousands and recompense
the great iniquity of their fathers into the bosom of their children
after them. The great, the mighty God, the Lord of hosts is his
name. And that's Jehovah in the Hebrew.
Great in counsel and mighty in work. Now this is the one who's
spoken of in verse 2 of Jeremiah 33. For thine eyes are open unto all the ways of
the sons of man, to give everyone according to his ways and according
to the fruit of his doings, which hath set signs and wonders in
the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and
among other men, and hath made thee a name as at this day, and
hath brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt."
Oh, we were taken out of Egypt. The world is, Egypt is a picture
of the world. With signs and wonders and with
a strong hand. Oh, He bought us with a strong
hand, the Lord Jesus Christ. And with a stretched out arm
and with great terror, and has given them this land which thou
didst swear to their fathers to give them. He decreed it,
it came to pass. A land flowing with milk and
honey. And they came in and possessed it. But they obeyed not thy voice,
neither walked in thy law, and they have done nothing of all
that thou commandest them to do. Therefore thou hast caused
all this evil to come upon them. Behold the mounts, they are come
unto the city to take it, and the city is given unto the hand
of the Chaldeans that fight against it because of the sword, and
of the famine, and of the pestilence. And what thou hast spoken is
come to pass. What thou hast spoken is come
to pass. And behold, thou seest it. And
thou hast said unto me, O Lord God, buy thee the field for money,
and take witness, for the city is given into the hand of the
Chaldeans. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,
Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh, and is there anything
too hard for me? Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? Nothing. Nothing. Let's go back to our
verse in Jeremiah 33, verse 2. And then now we know who's spoken
of. Thus saith the Lord, the Maker thereof, the Lord that
formed it. He formed the earth. He established it. The Lord is
His name. So we see the one who's speaking
here is the Lord, the one who's the Maker and Former of Jerusalem,
of Zion. And we can look at this and say,
this is also the church. Is it not? He's the maker and the former
of it. He chose us in eternity. He chose us in eternity in Christ.
We'd never choose God, but He chose us. He decreed to save
us. He's the one who came to save
His people from their sins. And what did He do? He saved
us. He saved us. He's the one who
has decreed salvation in Christ alone. He's the one who decreed
that the Israelites would be taken captive, and He's the one
who decreed that the Israelites would be released. And have mercy on whomever here
have mercy, and it's all by His sovereign decree. What a picture
we have before us of God, the one who decreed our
salvation in Christ. The one who says, I will, he
says to the leper, the leper says, Lord, if thou will, thou
can make me clean. And the Lord says, I will be
thou clean. That's a picture of me. That's
a picture of me as a sinner. I was that leper. Oh, I had the
leprosy of sin. And I said, Lord, if Thou will.
And He made me willing to come to Him to say that. Lord, if
Thou will, Thou can make me clean. And what did He do? Brother Matt,
what did He do for you? He made you clean, brother. My goodness. There was a time, you and I talked,
there was a time when you weren't willing at all. But He made you willing. Oh my. Makes us cry out to Him. Lord, Lord save me. Oh, what a mighty Savior. What
a mighty Savior. He has all power, all majesty. He is the God of all glory. And it fills the believer with
awe and wonder. So let us consider the first,
I will, in light of our God being absolutely sovereign. Look at
verse 6. Behold, I will bring in health
and cure, God here tells believers, tells Zion that he will bring
health and cure. Now false teachers of the prosperity
movement grab a hold of this and proclaim their false health,
wealth, gospel. It's just lies. It's absolute
lies. Some of God's dearest saints
are called to suffer. are called to suffer through
various health issues and burdens of life. Some of God's most precious
saints are called to live in poverty. Some of God's dearest saints
are caused to live with burdens of family or health issues. Oh my. I will bring health and
cure. So let us consider this. God
says, I will. And let us consider this. We
are sin-sick sinners, beloved. A plague of sin runs through
our veins. As I said before, people are
always worried about a pandemic. There is already one. The pandemic
of sin. And it's in every one of us. And there's only one cure. And that's Christ Jesus the Lord. We have the plague of sin within
us. We have no way to cure ourselves. Absolutely no way to cure ourselves.
But God proclaims this, I will bring health and cure. This is
speaking about God. cleansing us from all our sin. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
53. Isaiah 53. I will bring health and cure
in how He has done this. How has He done this for His
elect? All who His own self bear our
sins in His own body on a tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness. By whose stripes ye were healed,
for ye were a sheep going astray. but are now returned unto the
shepherd and bishop of your souls." 1 Peter 2, 24-25. And look at Isaiah 53, verses
4-6. Surely he hath borne our grace
and carried our souls, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
Jesus Christ is the absolute perfect man, sinless, the God-man,
God incarnate in the flesh, but He's wounded for my transgressions. And if you're a believer, for
your transgressions, and for all who will come to Him, all
who flee to Christ, He was wounded for our transgression. He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed.
The sinless One, Jesus Christ, dying upon the cross, and the
sins of all His people of all the ages are laid upon Him. And He bears the full wrath and
judgment of God. And he cries, it's finished.
It's finished. Look at verse 6, all we like
sheep are gone astray. There's no one that seeks after
God. No one. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,
of all his people. The iniquity of all the elect,
of all the ages is placed upon Christ, is imputed to Christ. He came to save His people from
their sins. And Beloved, He did it. This
is good news for sinners. I was talking to Brother Norm
Wells yesterday. He said the only thing nowadays is hard to
find sinners. No one thinks they're a sinner.
But we all are. We all are. So God proclaims
here, I will bring health and cure. And Beloved, He has. Through the blood atonement of
the Lord Jesus Christ. All our spiritual diseases have
been put away. Put away. And we are eternally
healed, we who believe in Christ. That's good news for sinners. Oh, I pray God would show you
you're a sinner. The next point does not specifically say, I
will, but it's attached to the scripture. And we will see our
great God saying, will, which means, again, it shall come to
pass. Look at verse 6 again. Behold, I will bring it health
and cure, and this is speaking of Zion, and I will cure them
and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
God will reveal unto Zion, unto the church, the abundance of
peace and truth. Now, peace is elusive. It's an
elusive thing. for humans, it's something government
seek after, it's something people seek after, but it's always elusive.
It's always, people make peace accords and they break them a
week later or a day later. You folks who served in the military,
you know that. If you've been called to go and
represent the country and fight for our freedom, you know that. You can be called at a moment's
notice. Peace is so elusive. And we live in a world that's
constantly pining for peace. Constantly wanting peace. But
there's no peace because we're a world of sinners. We need to look to the one who
is called the Prince of Peace. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the
world wants a piece of their own making. They want a piece of their own
making. They say, well, I'm a good guy. God never sent me to hell. I'm fine. My good will outweigh
my bad. That's a piece of your own making.
It will lead right to destruction. Romans 5.1 says this, therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. How? Through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with God only comes through
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only found in Him. And apart
from the revelation of the Word, Apart from God revealing Christ
to us, we will be ignorant of the way of peace. And we will
seek peace on our own. But oh, when God reveals to you
your sinner, you seek the Prince of Peace. You seek Him who gives
us peace. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
Him. And we who believe rest and trust in Him alone. And the
reason we rest and trust in Him alone It's because God's decreed it
to be so. Now, does that, you know, I often, Brother John and
I talked about this before. Folks often say, well, I don't
know if I'm one of the elect of God, so I'm just going to
sit. Well, Scripture says now's the day of salvation. We are
to flee to Christ today. I don't know who God's elect
are. I don't know who He's decreed the salvation, but He does, because
He's God. He's God. Therefore, the preacher
preaches to everyone. The general call goes out to
all of you. Flee to Christ. Flee then. He's the only hope. God makes his people willing
because he's a sovereign God. Oh my. He's the sinner's only
hope. He's the sinner's only hope. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
truth of salvation. There's no salvation anywhere
but in Christ. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there's none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
1. Luke chapter 1. He is the truth about redemption.
There is no redemption in anything or anyone but the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is no acceptance before
God in anyone but Christ. Anyone. Now, folks, manufacture a god
of their own imagination, and it will lead to their doom, beloved. Look at Luke 1, verses 67-71. And his father Zacharias was
filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, Blessed be
the Lord God of Israel, verse 68, the Lord God of Israel, for
He hath visited and redeemed His people. Christ is the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, beloved, and has raised up in a horn of
salvation for us in the house of His servant David. As He spake
by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world
began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the
hand of all that hates us. Christ is the horn of salvation. Only Him. Christ alone. Man thinks he can muster up a
righteousness which is suitable before God. But you never can. You never can. We must have a
righteousness that is perfect. In Christ the sinless One lives
a perfect life and dies a perfect death as the sinner's substitute
upon Calvary's cross. In His righteousness, His perfect
life, is counted to those who believe. My, what a Savior. What a Redeemer. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. In this is the name wherewith
shall she be called, the Lord our righteousness. Christ is
all our righteousness. All our acceptance. How can you and I, sinners that
we are, how can we be accepted before God who is holy and sovereign
and righteous and can't have sin in His presence? How can
we be accepted? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. Flee to Him. Flee to Him. He's the sinner's only hope.
He's the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes unto
the Father but by Him, but through Christ. Let us consider our third
point, which is found in verse 7. And I will cause the captivity
of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build
them as at the first. I will cause them to return,
it says. Beloved of God, we are in the
bondage of sin. We were born into this world
dead in trespasses and sins, alienated from God with no hope,
powerless to deliver ourselves from captivity, powerless to
deliver ourselves from sin, alienated from God by our sins. But by
the obedience and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, we who
believe have been liberated from sin, death, and eternal condemnation. For he that is dead is freed
from the law. We fell in Adam, didn't we? But
we're made righteous by the Lord Jesus Christ. Being then made
free from sin, he became the servant of righteousness. We
serve Christ now. We seek to please Him. As a result of the Lord Jesus
Christ dying as the believer's substitute, there is therefore
now no condemnation. We just sit right there. No condemnation. But the law has a rightful claim
upon every human, but the believer in Christ. There is no condemnation
for the believer in Christ Jesus who walks not up to the flesh,
but in the Spirit. And the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath set us free. Free from the law. Free from the law of sin and
death. Romans 8, 1 and 2. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
8. Do you know that the unbeliever, whether they know it or not,
and I didn't know this before the Lord saved me. I had no idea. Do you know that the unbeliever
is a slave to sin? We who are redeemed are slaves
to righteousness. And that's not a bad thing. But
you know that the unbeliever, when I was dead in my trespasses
and sins, and I had no hope, and I didn't know God, I was
a slave to my sin? Look at John 8, verses 33-38. They answered him, We be Abraham's
seed, and were never in bondage. to any man, John 8, 33. How sayest
thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committed sin is the servant
of sin. And the servant abideth not in
the house forever, but the son abideth ever. If the son therefore
shall make you free, if he has purchased you, If He's redeemed
you, if you're born again, if the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham's
seed, but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place
in you." What do free willers say about that? Our Lord just
said to those people, my word hath no place in you. That's the sovereign Master saying
that. I speak that which I have seen with my Father, and you
do that which you have seen with your Father." They were servants
of sin, enslaved. And the believer in Christ, beloved,
is set free from the bondage of sin. Now, we're set free from
the bondage of sin. We're set free from the penalty
of sin. But unfortunately, we still have the presence of sin.
I'm still a sinner. I'm a safe sinner, though. Praise God. But
one day, I'm going to be set free, and you who believe will
be set free from the presence of sin. It'll be a glorious day.
It'll be a glorious day. And the believer does not desire
to be under the bondage of sin again. Stand fast therefore in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Don't let people
yoke you with things you've got to do. The believer, Galatians
5.1, the believer has freedom in Christ. Behold, thy Paul saying
to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
So Paul's battling in Galatians 5, he's battling these Judaizers
that are saying, you must be circumcised to be saved. And
Paul's saying, don't be yoked up again by the bondage. Don't
be yoked up by the law. I remember in religion it was,
do, do, do, do, do. But when God shall be graced,
it's done. It's done. Praise God. It's done. The work is done. Now the hardest
thing for me to do, and I don't know if it's for you, but it's
the hardest thing for me to do, is just to enter into the rest of
Christ. Just to trust Him. Just to rest in Him. Oh my. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. If someone wants to live under the law, they've got to
do the whole law. And remember, Scripture says
if you offend in one point of the law, you offend it in it
all. I thank my God and Savior. I thank my Lord Jesus Christ
that He fulfilled the law in my place. Don't you? He did it
all. My, what a God. What a Savior. So stand fast, therefore, in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Free. Be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. Oh, my. Look again at Jeremiah 33, verse
7. So He says, I'll cause them to
return. Oh, He has. He says, I'll build them up.
I'll build them up. Our rest and our hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. God's elect
rest upon the foundation, upon the foundation of Christ. He
being the chief cornerstone. Look at verse 7. I will cause
the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return,
and will build them as at the first. He is the chief cornerstone. He is the foundation. Isaiah
28, 16 says this, Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I
lay in Zion for a foundation stone. A tried stone. A precious
cornerstone. A sure foundation. You can rest
in Christ. You can rest your eternal soul
in Christ and what He's done. You can't rest in anything I've
done. And if you're resting in yourself, if you're resting in
something you've done, you're resting in a refuge of lies.
But if you're resting in Christ, oh, what a sure foundation. What
a sure foundation. What a cornerstone. A nail in
a sure place is Scripture declares. Oh, upon the foundation of Christ
in Him alone. Our Lord said, I will build my
church. He said to Peter, I'll build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. But his church is built upon
Christ. It's built upon Christ in Him
alone. He's the foundation stone. He's the one who all the church,
Jesus Christ is the one who all the church have their hope and
their rest for their eternal souls in. Christ in Him alone. Outside of Christ is eternal
damnation. Look at verse 8. Consider our
fifth point. Oh, this is wonderful here. Verse
8, and I will cleanse them from all their iniquity. whereby they have sinned against
me, and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have
sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me." This
is good news for sinners, right here. He says, I will. And this
is God saying this. This is God saying this. I will
cleanse them from all their iniquities. All of them. All of them. Good news for sinners. The question for you is, has
God shown you that you're a sinner? As God revealed to you that you're
a sinner. Because we who are saved, that's
what God's done for us. He's revealed to us that we're
sinners and we flee to Christ. We flee to Christ. And notice in our text, who have
we sinned against? Who have you sinned against and
who have I sinned against? I will cleanse them from all
their iniquity whereby they have sinned against Me. The Holy Sovereign
God of the Universe. Do you see how now what we looked
at earlier when Scripture says that Christ made peace? Who does
He make peace with? The Sovereign God of the Universe
for His people. Oh, this is great news, wonderful
news for sinners. We have sinned against none other
than the Holy Righteous God of the Universe. And look at what
God says of His people. Though we sinned against Him,
and though we have no way to pay for our sins by our own works,
He says, and I will cleanse them from all their iniquity. What
a Savior. What a God. And this can only happen through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him bearing our sin and
bearing the judgment of God and the wrath of God in our place.
For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. The just one,
the holy one, the perfect one dies in the place of sinners.
What a Savior. What a Redeemer. This is my God. This is my Savior. This is my
Redeemer. Is He yours? Oh, I pray God to
make you willing. Oh, I pray you to flee to Him.
Look at verse 8, and we'll consider our final point. And I will cleanse
them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against
Me. And I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have
sinned. whereby they have transgressed against me. I will pardon them
from all their sin and transgression against me." Now, as I said,
we are hopeless, helpless, bankrupt sinners with no ability to pay
what God demands. No ability. But look what our
great God and sovereign King says. He says, I will. I will
pardon them from all their sins and transgressions against me.
Here's a precious, precious I will for God's people. This warms
the hearts and souls of God's people, because we know it's
our sins and transgressions which separate us from God, which forbid
us to be in the presence of the holy and righteous God of the
universe, and to spend eternity with Him. The only way to spend
eternity with Him, the only way to be in His presence is through
Christ Jesus and Him alone. and I will pardon, this is God
speaking, this is Jehovah, and I will pardon their iniquities.
The self-existent one says, and I will pardon all their iniquities
whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed
against Me. Those whom Christ has redeemed,
He pardons all their iniquities. David had a man He committed
adultery with a man's wife. He had him sent to the front
lines. And he died. He had him killed, basically.
Paul took Christians and stood before them as they were being
slaughtered and dragged them into prison and threw them into
prison. And these men were redeemed. All their iniquities were forgiven. All their sins were forgiven. All. But they and our fathers
dwelt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy
commandments, and refused to obey, neither were mindful of
thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened their necks.
And in the rebellion appointed a captain to return to their
bondage, but thou art a God ready to pardon. God is a God ready
to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,
and forsook them not. Seek ye the Lord. while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,
and let him return unto the Lord. And he will have mercy upon him.
And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. If you've been forgiven
all your sins, you know that God has abundantly pardoned you. What a Savior. In all these blessings,
God has freely and sovereignly given us in Christ Jesus that
we should be a name of joy, praise, and honor. Therefore, we should
worship Him and we should seek to give Him all the glory and
all the honor and all the praise. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, we've
seen a picture of Zion taken into captivity and in released. Oh, what a picture, what a picture
of your church. We who were captive to sin and
in bondage and could never, never release ourselves. Oh Lord, you've
abundantly pardoned us from all our sins and iniquities. May
we seek to glorify thee and may we think upon these wonderful
truths. And if it's your will, may you draw one of your lost
sheep to you. May it be a day of salvation. Today is a day
of salvation. Today. Flee to Christ. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.