Well, it didn't work. Here I
am. I want to ditto what Clay said. Maybe I'll be able to tell by
looking, but I'm quite a bit older than him. But he's been
not only a dear friend, but a counselor to me. And I'm thankful for him,
I really am. And I want to thank this church
right in the beginning for the labor of love to put on a conference. I never knew how much work it
was until I became a pastor. And it's Accommodations, everything's
just been wonderful. I'm getting to the point with
my age that I don't like to travel much. I don't like to drive and
I don't like to fly. So until they come up with some
kind of teleporting system, I just have to grin and bear it. But
I am telling you the truth. I would have left a month ago
and walked here to hear those two messages last night. And
I'm thankful for you two men. I appreciate you and I love you.
And you too, Brother Clay. My text this morning is found
from Jeremiah chapter 31, if you would turn there with me.
Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah was a messenger of God's
justice. And he was also a messenger of
God's grace. The book of Jeremiah, which bears
his name, like all the scripture, it uproots and it tears down. It plants and it builds up. He
warns of God's impending judgment. to those who are without Christ,
and He gives great hope for the future to those that are in Christ.
And that's what a true messenger of God does. That's what we heard
last night. He uproots and He tears down
all self-hope. He tears down all self-righteousness,
all self-help, and any other visions of grandeur that men
and women have in saving themselves due to something that they themselves
do. The true messenger of God, He
plants and He waters. Paul was very clear about that. But it's God that gives the increase.
Only God can give the increase. And God does so by what the world
calls foolishness, the foolishness of preaching. And it pleases
the Lord by this foolishness, it's called, not foolishness
to a believer though, is it? This foolishness of preaching
to save them who believe. Our message is one of judgment. and one of love. Our message
is one of justice and one of grace. Now, if you have Jeremiah
31, look back verses 23 and 24 of the previous chapter, Jeremiah
chapter 30, verse 23. It says, Behold the whirlwind
of the Lord going forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind,
and it shall fall with pain. pain upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord
shall not return until he hath done it. And until he hath performed
the intents of his heart in the latter days, ye shall consider
it." So here we see the prophet Jeremiah uprooting and tearing
down the hopes of all those who trust in themselves that they
are righteous. And this pronounces judgment
throughout the Holy Scriptures, the Lord does. Knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We know that God is a God
of justice. Yet the gospel is not a message
of fear. It's a message of love. It's a message of grace. Saved
sinners are drawn to Christ by God's drawing cords of love and
mercy. They're not driven from him.
It's the goodness of God that leadeth men and women to repentance.
And the genuine believer, he serves God because he loves Him. not because he fears him. Now,
in religion today, we have quite the opposite. I remember when
I was younger and raised in an Arminian church, a free will
church, they would rent movie houses and show pictures, movies,
little clips of hell and those that were there. And it only
scares folks into a profession of faith. Well, nobody wants
to go to hell. And people make a profession,
they trust in that profession, that walking down an aisle, that
raising their hand or saying a prayer, whatever it is. And
usually, as my mom used to say, it don't take. It just don't
take. But the child of God knows that
they've been delivered from condemnation, from wrath and judgment by being
washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I was
thinking, who is the best servant? not the man that simply does
what he's paid to do. That servant does what he does
for his wages. He feels that he earns it. You
work a 40-hour week, you want to get paid, you earned it. He
feels like he deserves it, that he merited it. And all that any
of us have earned or deserved or merit is hail. We just read it. His wrath and
judgment is fury. That's where the word furious
came from. His wrath is fierce anger. He's angry with the wicked every
day. But He loves His people with
an everlasting love. So Jeremiah's message here continues
this way. Look at verse 1 in chapter 31.
I love how it starts at the same time. At the same time, when
God is pronouncing judgment upon the wicked, at the same time,
saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel,
and they shall be my people. Thus saith the Lord, the people
which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness,
even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. That's how we rest,
friends. He causes us to. The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. The first sentence there of verse
three denotes a note of complaining. There's a sense of complaining
even in this expression of gratitude. You know, my dad used to call
that a backhanded compliment. You've heard that. Indirect comments
with a little hidden dig, compliments spoken with a little sarcasm,
insincere, ambiguous, compliments that also could be taken as an
insult. How about this one to you ladies? You really look nice in this
light. I caught myself this past Sunday. A lady had a beautiful dress
on at church, and I said, you look pretty tonight. It was actually
Wednesday night. As if to say, you don't look
pretty any other night. Caught myself and corrected that. How about this one? That was
a beautiful photo of you. I didn't recognize you at first. I heard this one from my dad
one time. You're not as dumb as you look. I heard that quite
a bit. Was that a compliment? Well,
that's a bi-candid compliment. Backhand and compliment. The
Lord tells Israel that they were delivered, not destroyed, from
the sword. I thought about that. They were
not destroyed by the sword of Pharaoh in Egypt or at the Red
Sea. They didn't perish by the sword
of the Amalekites and Amorites on their journey to the land
of promise. The Lord tells them that He was
behind the grace that they found in the wilderness. Well, to His
people, He's behind all the goodness and the grace that we experience. After all, our Lord is the God
of all grace. All grace. You know, we need
to slow down when we study and look at every word. All means
all. I think someone said that last
night. It means He's the only One with grace. He's the only
One that has this grace. All grace is His. And then the
Lord says, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
You see, the reality is this. We in and of ourselves labor
to rest. We have to labor to rest. But
in Jesus Christ, the believer is made to rest. I'm so glad
that the Lord has made me to rest. John, you said it so well
last night. I have to be made to rest. When the Lord chose some, loved
them eternally, and gave them to Christ, well, He loved even
me. When the Lord saved me, He saved,
what I believe, the chief of sinners. And every one of you
will say the same. You know, I was thinking one
time, the only thing that we would disagree on, all those
that believe the Gospel, is which one of us is the worst sinner.
That's where we would probably argue, well, no, it's me. No,
it's me. He loved even me. We sing wonderful things in the
Bible, I see, but this is the dearest, that Jesus loved me. He loved me. Even me. Jesus loves
even me. How wonderful is that? Oh, if
you've been made to see who and what you are, you'll see that
as wonderful. God led Israel by a pillar of
cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and God promised
them His divine goodness, mercy, deliverance to encourage faith
in them. And it's as if Israel here is
saying, Oh, but that was centuries ago. The Lord appeared of old
unto me. He used to be gracious to us,
but times have changed, for the Lord does not appear unto us
now. And the complaint seems to be
that God's gracious revelations and wondrous deliverances were
all in the past, many years ago. In other words, Lord, what have
you done for me lately? But the Lord here is saying,
I'm immutable. I'm unchanging. I'm the Lord
that changes not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. You know, you can omit that word
old or ancient there and insert the child of God can, everlasting. He's an everlasting God. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. My love for you has never stopped.
If anyone stopped loving, it's you. We must endure to the end
to be saved. How do we endure to the end? The Lord having loved His own,
He loved them to the end. Everlasting. That word everlasting,
that's the heart of the gospel. That's where we rest. The love
of God for His people is everlasting. Now first, everlasting means
that it never had a beginning. You know, we're such creatures
of time, we can't fathom eternity. We can't fathom everlasting. God never began to love His people. He's always loved His people. He said, I have past tense love
thee. And if it lasts forever, it's
never stopped. Before the blue heavens were
created, before the green grass was made, There were thoughts
of love in God's heart toward His people. Isn't that wonderful? That's why we call it the Gospel.
It's good news. It's good news for sinners. It's
good news to those who trust in Christ. God began to create
and God began to redeem when man fell, but He never began
to love. never begin to love. From the
beginning, the Lord hath chosen you unto salvation." My friends,
it's eternal love that burns in the heart of God toward every
one of His elect people. You know what that means? That
means that I didn't do anything in order to be saved, and I can't
do anything to be lost. If I did nothing and can do nothing
that would ever cause God to love me, then I cannot do anything
that would cause God to cease to love me. And people say, oh,
you can't preach that. It'll give folks a license to
sin. Well, listen, you don't need
a license to sin. You can do it pretty well without
one. And we had to have a license to drive. And we have to have
a license to hunt and do different things. But we don't need a license
to sin. That comes naturally to us. His love for me and you who trust
in Him is based 110% on nothing else but His love and
mercy to us. In our case, it's because of
someone. Someone. The Gospel is about
a person. It's about Christ. It's the finished
work. Boy, I've come to love that word
finished. It's a finished work of righteousness
done for Him by us through the Lord Jesus Christ. He made us
accepted in Him. We're accepted in the Beloved.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, however, Some will say,
well, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Paul was, no, no, no, that's
what he's saying there, God forbid. And friends, this is our motivation
for love and obedience to our Lord and Savior. His love for
us, we love Him because He first loved us. God's love for us is
everlasting. It's not like a mushroom that
springs up today and perishes tomorrow. I have a fellow that
mowed my grass, taking care of my yard for a long time because
I got too old. But anyway, I noticed one day
after he had finished mowing, I mean, he hadn't been finished
in, it seemed like, an hour, and these mushrooms just, I'm
like, did he miss that? No, they just, grew up out of
nowhere, and the next day they were gone. God's sheep were loved
by the shepherd before he fashioned Adam out of the dust of the ground
and breathed into him the breath of life. If God's love for his
people was without beginning, and always was, and always is,
and always will be, how? How can we take any credit? We
can't. Salvation is of the Lord. I say this all the time. I'm
going to keep saying it because I like it. Salvation is of the
Lord. Do you know what follows that
in the Scripture? A period. Salvation is of the Lord. Period. What a period does is it says
end of conversation. No need to add to it. It's of
the Lord, period. Secondly, everlasting means the
love of God has no end. No end. The Lord says, yea, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. It wouldn't be everlasting if
it came to an end. And isn't it amazing that the
Lord was drawing His people to Himself? You can look back on
your life and see that. He would draw me to Himself and
I didn't even know it. I didn't know it. look back, as I said, on their
life and see this, and we look back at certain things now that
transpired in our lives, and at the time, we didn't know that
it was the providence of God drawing us to Him. You know,
for me, it was a job that transferred me to a new city and new state,
and it was there that my wife and I started attending a church
within a A week or so after we started attending there, the
pastor announced, we're going to have next week, we're going
to have a sovereign grace Bible conference. I'll be honest with
you, Kevin, I didn't know what sovereign grace was. And now
I know it's the only kind of grace there is. And we call it
sovereign grace because we have to qualify it to those that don't
have any idea of what it is. If it's grace, it's sovereign
grace. And it was at that meeting that
I heard the gospel preached by my pastor, Maurice Montgomery,
Henry Mahan, Don Fortner. Jack Shank, Scott Richardson,
I believe there were 16 preachers I was telling John. And the meeting
started early in the week. And I remember telling my wife
on the way home, somebody finally told me the truth. The truth
about God, the truth about me, the truth about Christ. It was
the Lord drawing me to himself. And I didn't even know it. That
was 38 years ago. I was a young man then. Now I'm
older, and I'm being whitewashed, Johnny. But God's love for me
has not changed. Not changed. His love never had
a beginning, and yet His mercies, His love, are new every morning. Every morning I get up, I thank
the Lord that His mercy endures forever. Life's like a vapor. A vapor appears only for a little
while and then it fadeth away, a little time it's called, but
the Lord's love for me will never end. Isn't that a glorious thought? The love of God will be my unfailing
portion. As John said last night, one
day I'm gonna stand before God in judgment and I need not fret
or fear of impending doom. Because I have an advocate with
the Father that's going to stand up for me and say, Father, I
shed my blood for that sinner. And mercy says, let that sinner
go free. How do we know this? He's drawn
us to Himself. Have you been drawn in loving
kindness? If you have, that's evidence
in itself that the Lord loved you with an everlasting love.
Have you been drawn from self to Christ? Have you been drawn
from sight to faith? Have you seen the one who is
invisible? Have you heard the one who's
inaudible, who speaks with that small, still voice within? Then
you've been drawn. and loving kindness. As I said,
religion frightens folks into a false profession. Beware of
any religion that excites your terror. Some out of fear do what
they think they must do. They make a profession, and that's
all it is. You know, I could profess to
be president, but I'm not. And to be honest with you, I
wouldn't want to be. But I'm glad that I'm not. Some are terrified so they don't
do what they like. You know, they give up things
that they didn't want to give up because they think that that
somehow qualifies them for salvation. The true servant of Christ is
a servant by choice. He's a willing servant, willing
bond slave, as you said. The Lord made him that. The Lord
made him that. He's a servant by choice. We
don't serve the Lord by constraint or force. We're made willing
in the day of His power. Oh, I'm so glad. I look back
now on my life. My parents made me do things
I wasn't willing to do. I'm glad now. I'm glad now that
they made me willing. Could there be someone here this
morning who's never felt the love of God in Christ? If so,
I'm going to tell you this. If you desire to have His love,
you can. You can. He's never turned down
a sinner in need as we just sung a moment ago. Right now, He will
supply all your need. You know, that was one of those
words, John, I read over for years. It doesn't say needs.
Plural, it says need. Singular, Jesus Christ is all
I need. He's that one thing needful. The leper cried, I know you can
hear me. I know you can. But will you? But will you? And the Lord had
compassion. The Lord had love. And he said,
I will. And he had willed to do so before
time ever was. Those that have never been, there's never
been one left hungry who hungered for the bread of life. There's
never been one who left thirsty when they thirsted for the fountain
of living water. And when you're made willing
to have Christ, you can be assured that he's willing to have you.
He's the one who made you so. He made me willing. I'm so glad.
God's sovereign choosing and electing never shut anyone out
of heaven. I've had people tell me that.
Oh, you're gonna shut folks out of heaven. I'm not gonna shut anybody out of
heaven. You know, if you put your hands
toward him, he already has his hands down to you. My, my. This is proof positive that God
loved you before the foundation of the world. Oh, that God would
be pleased to draw such a one this day. They're called vessels
of mercy. The sovereign potter made them
so. Some are marred in the hands
of this sovereign potter who turns the wheel and works all
things after his will and purpose and counsel. But some are fashioned
into a vessel of dishonor. Some will never come to Christ
that they might have life, and that's what they are, they're
vessels of dishonor. Have not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump? That's a good description of
us, isn't it? Lumps. Lumps of sin, that's all
we are. He's able to take the same lump
and to make one a vessel of honor and another under dishonor, Romans
9, 21. And Paul went on to write there
in Romans 9, verse 22, what if God, willing to show his wrath
and to make known his power, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? and that he might
make known the riches of the glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had aforeprepared unto glory." Before prepared. Everlasting. Eternal. Look at
verse 11 in our text here in chapter 31. It says, "...for the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand that was stronger
than he." Now that's talking about Satan, the devil, and I
know people, personally, I have family members who are always
rebuking the devil. They say, Satan, I take authority
over you. I don't understand why people
are always rebuking the devil by some imagined power within
themselves when the Lord's already cast him out. As you alluded to last night,
he's God's dog on a chain. He uses Satan to accomplish his
will. You know, you see in the pictures
sometimes, in the motion pictures, you know, where a guy's standing
there and he doesn't know what to do, and he's got the bevel
on one shoulder and God on the other, and whispering in both
of his ears? That's hogwash. That's hogwash. God is on the throne. He rules
and reigns and does what He wills in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or
say unto him, What doest thou? Even the powerful angel Michael,
when contending with the devil, said, The Lord rebuke thee. And
he had. We don't rebuke the devil, the
Lord rebuked him for us. And here the love of God is defiantly
confessed. It says, the Lord hath appeared. In the course of time, God made
aware to us by His mercy and grace what He had purposed before
time ever was. I had someone recently ask me
my definition of providence. And I said, whoa, could you give
me an easier one than that? But you know, I didn't come up
with it. I've heard it before. But providence
is simply God working out in time what he purposed in eternity. It's all going to come to pass
just as he ordained it to. And this revelation doesn't come
from another tongue. It comes from God himself. The
divine lover himself appeared and revealed that he loves us
eternally. He said, yeah, I have loved thee. Not you love me. And then I loved
you. I've loved you. Notice that it's sealed with
a yay. Yay, I have loved thee. That
word means yes. Yes, I have loved thee. He swears by himself. He can
swear by no greater. God's dealings with us are never
understood until he appears to us and reveals himself to us.
He must speak to us. When did Lazarus come forth?
Not until he was given life. Lazarus come forth and he that
was dead came forth. He didn't come forth until he
was given life. He didn't walk from that tomb in front of Christ
and then God gave him life. A dead man can't walk. A dead
man can't do anything. Life has to first be given. With all these things that I've
said, I want us to consider, just for a couple of minutes,
those two pronouns there, I and thee. You know, if God gives
the sinner eyes to see, to see those words, I and thee, used
together, they, by God's grace, will also see their only hope
of redemption. He's the only one that can give
life. He's the only one that can save our wretched souls. I, the infinite, the inconceivable,
the glorious God, have loved Thee, the poor, lost, hell-deserving
sinner. You see the link between the
two? Not long ago, my wife bought some metal chairs. And I think
we were having a conversation one time with Paul and Mindy. And we sent them some pictures
of the chair. And he said, you know what you need for those
chairs? He said, I've got some leather pieces that you send
me the dimensions and I can cut it out. And when I come down
there the next time, we'll rivet them on there. And he said, that'll
really look good. And he stained the leather. You
know, I hate people that can do everything when I can't do
nothing. I can't even mow my own grass. And Paul told me, he said, now,
when he got there and we were going to do that, he said, now,
we need to go get some brass rivets, because they'll look
good, and he said, and they'll last. They won't rust. But friends,
there's a diamond rivet holding this I and thee together. It's
the everlasting love of God in the Lord Jesus Christ for His
people. The love of the shepherd for
his sheep. Brother Clay said last night
on the way home, he said, can you imagine if the Lord actually
had Sheep on this earth. Don't you just know that they're
the best cared for sheep in all the land? Best cared for. Probably, like me, a little pudgy
and fat because they've been eating so good. I'm glad you
brought that up last night. Folks usually bring up good things
like that after I preach. There was a song when I was popular
in my teenage years sung by Linda Ronstadt. Some of you whitewashed
folks may be the only one to remember it, but it's called
Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me. It was about someone who was
down on their so-called luck, feeling sorry for themselves,
saying poor, poor, pitiful me. And beloved, we are pitiful.
We are pitiful. We're not down on our luck. There's
no such thing as luck. There's no luck with a God who
purposes all things, all things directed and purposed by Him. But we are down in the dust. And we are down on the downhill. And if He didn't reach down His
hand for me, that's where I'd still be. He'd love me with an
everlasting love. No, it's not luck that has brought
us there. It's our sin that has. And sadly,
by nature, we don't even feel sorry for ourselves. We don't
seem poor, poor, pitiful me. We don't feel sorry for ourselves. By nature, we take pleasure in
our sin. Here's the amazing thing about
the gospel. The Lord feels sorry for us and
is compassionate toward us. This is amazing when judgment
and wrath is all that we deserve. It's all that we deserve. I can't
imagine like those that are spoken of in the Scripture that are
going to stand before the Lord one day and say, Lord, Lord,
they call Him Lord. Hadn't we done many wonderful
works in Your name? We've preached in Your name.
We've cast out devils. We've done this and we've done
that. And would the Lord say, I never knew you. I never loved
you. I never loved you with an everlasting
love. My, Bartimaeus cried, have mercy
on me. And the Lord stood still. What
were you that I should do unto you? The Lord told Bartimaeus,
and blind Bartimaeus said, that my eyes might be opened. Have
you cried that your eyes be opened? Jesus had compassion and touched
his eyes, and immediately he received his sight. That leper
I was talking about a moment ago, the Lord had compassion
on that leper. He said, I will. But the Lord
told the demoniac, go home and tell your friends the great things
that the Lord hath done for thee and hath had compassion on thee. He loved me with an everlasting
love. The Lord saw that widow woman
who had lost her only son. Her husband was gone. Her son
probably provided her life. She lost everything when she
lost her son. And he had compassion on her.
And what did he say? Weep not. Don't be sad. And he came and he touched the
coffin. And that young man arose when he said, young man, I say
unto thee, arise. Has the Lord commanded you to
arise? The Lord said to Moses, I'll
have mercy on whom? I'll have mercy and compassion
on whom? I'll have compassion. The Lord
says, I not only loved you when I died for you, but my love for
you is the reason that I died for you. Big difference. Big
difference. And one day this wretched sinner,
old wretched man that I am, But this wretched sinner who stands
before you this morning cried, and the Lord had mercy and compassion. This poor man cried, and the
Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. For
he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor man also
in him that hath no helper." I didn't have any helper. I sought
man, I sought religion, I sought all the help I could get, and
nobody could help me. Matter of fact, I grew all the
worse. Are we not all poor? Are we not all in trouble? David
said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might
learn God's statues. I might learn that God is on
the throne. I'm a worm in the dust. And He
loved me, me, even me. with an everlasting love. He shall spare the poor and needy
and shall save the souls of the needy. There's only one qualification
for mercy and grace. Need. Thirst. Hunger. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Do you have need? and crying
to the Lord. That's who He hears. Poor and
needy sinners. And this is the proof of God's
divine intervention. That's what it is. It's a divine
intervention. Our salvation is due to His loving
kindness. However He draws us, it's in
love. And whenever He draws us, it's
in love. Yes, the Lord drew me, no doubt
about that. But He Himself here in our text
says, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. God draws us with
loving kindness. What a wonderful word that is.
Loving kindness. Two choice words made into one. Love and kindness. Loving kindness. You know, my
mom was the disciplinary one in my home. She'd grab a belt
quick. I seen her pull a belt off my
dad one time to whoop me. It didn't feel like loving kindness.
But it was. It was. The Lord chasteneth those
that he loves. Loves with loving kindness. What
a wonderful word that is. Verse nine, look at it, they
shall come with weeping and with supplications, will I lead them?
And I will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in a straight
way, wherein they shall not stumble. Hear the word of the Lord, O
ye nations, and declare it into the isles afar off, and say,
he that has scattered Israel will gather them and keep him
as a shepherd doth. His flock. Verse 12, Therefore
they shall come and sing, sing to the Lord, unto the Lord. and sing unto the height of Zion,
and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord for wheat,
and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and
of the herd, and their souls shall be a watered garden." Oh,
I sat there last night, and I kept thinking to myself, I'm so glad
that I'm here, and even more so, I'm so glad that I'm glad. Right? We're glad. Glad. We serve the Lord with gladness. He that began to draw you is
going to keep on drawing you. He's already safely landed us
where His everlasting love shall be our endless theme and singing. Because of Christ's lovingkindness
to us, we dwell in eternal fellowship. Oh, I want to drive that home. When I told someone not long
ago that I believed in the doctrines of grace, some call it tulip,
but tulip without Christ is just a dead flower. But he said, oh,
you're one of those that believe in once saved, always saved.
If the Lord saved me, I'm always saved. Now if I save myself,
I'm going to be lost. But if the Lord saved me, it's
an everlasting love. It's an eternal love. No beginning,
no end. Because of Christ loving kindness
to us, it's forever. No beginning, no end. Before
God created heavens, the earth, man, and all that dwells therein. There's no beginning of the love
of God for His chosen people. And the amazing thing to me is
there's no end to His love for me. What a beautiful place for
us to rest. Are you resting in Christ this
morning? Oh, I encourage you to do so. Rest in Him. The work's
finished. When can a man truly rest? When his work's finished. And
it's finished. It's finished. The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, yes, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. Therefore, this is why with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. Now look at verse 33 in closing. It says, But this shall be the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those
days, saith the Lord, I'll put My law in their inward parts,
and I'll write it in their hearts. And we'll be their God, and they
shall be My people." It pleased the Lord to make you His people. Isn't that something? Isn't that
something? It pleased the Lord to do so.
Because of this covenant, the Lord Jesus says at the end of
verse 24, I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more. You know, God can't forget. Why
doesn't He remember our sin no more? We don't have any. We don't have any. Now I know
that's so hard for us, difficult for us, because we live with
ourselves every day. We get a good whip of ourselves
every day. But because of this covenant,
our sin and iniquity is forgiven and remembered no more by the
one who can never forget. Dear believer, my pastor used
to say this all the time, and I love it. He said, everything's
going to be alright. To the believer, everything's
going to be alright. Brother Jack Shanks used to say
it this way with his Texas drawl. He'd say, everything's going
to be good. Going to be good. You see, if
God ever loved me, He loves me still. If God ever drew me, He's
still drawing me. If I was saved, I am saved, and
I'm forever saved. And this is what I rest my soul
upon. And it's what I want you to rest
your soul upon. Because of that, I have a great
hope. Oh, I'm telling you, I have a
great hope. Ain't nothing great about me,
but Christ is my great hope. And the amazing thing is God was
pleased to make it so. May He be pleased to make it
so for you today. Amen.