Now this is a question God asked
the sinner. And he asked Jeremiah, what seest
thou, Jeremiah? Now this parable here is an earthly
illustration to give us a heavenly truth. That's what a parable
is. And it's a parable of good figs and bad figs. And this describes
the only two kinds of people there are in the whole world.
Only two kinds of people there are in this world. They're God's
elect, represented by the good figs, and they are the children
of the devil, those who reject Christ, represented here by the
bad figs. You have those who are saved
by grace, represented by the good figs, and those who attempt
to save themselves by their works, represented by the bad figs.
Now among the good figs here, verse 1, it says that Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, had carried away captive Jeconiah, the son
of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah. That
included Daniel and Ezekiel. Daniel was a middle-aged man. Ezekiel was probably a young
man or a child. And with the carpenters and smiths,
that means the Men who were builders and artisans in Israel, He took
them away, took them to Babylon, so they couldn't help, they couldn't
do anything in Jerusalem. Plus, they would be used in Babylon. And it says, He took them from
Jerusalem, He brought them to Babylon. Now, among the bad figs,
picture of the seed of the devil, verse 8 says, it's Zedekiah,
king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem
that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of
Egypt. Now, there are several scriptures
that teach us the main point of this passage. But there's
one that I think you'll remember from when we went through Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 3 and verse
10, God said, Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him
for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Christ's work,
Christ's work is the doings of His people. What He did is our
doings, and it's righteous, and we're righteous in Him. And therefore,
God says, we'll eat the fruit of our doings. But He says, woe
unto the wicked. It shall be ill with him for
the reward of his hands. the reward of his own personal
hands shall be given him. Now, I want you to get this main
point from the whole message. Though providence may appear
worse for God's people than it does for the devil's people,
yet it shall be well for God's elect, but woe for those who
trust the work of their own hands. It may appear much worse for
you who are God's people. You may behold worldly men that
seem to prosper and are doing very well in this world, but
just remember, God says it will be well for those He's made righteous,
and it will be woe for those that He's just left to themselves.
They may have a lot in this world, but that's all they'll ever have.
Now I want to show you just two points here, but I have quite
a few sub-points in these two points. I want to show you, first
of all, every sinner's problem. Every sinner's problem. And then
secondly, seeing that this is every sinner's problem, I want
to show you that it's God alone who makes us to differ. Now first
of all, every sinner's problem is threefold. There's three problems
that we have. We see them right here in this
text. One, we come into this world captives of the devil. We all come into this world captives
of the devil. Now the devil is pictured here
by the king of Babylon. Babylon is a picture of all falsehood. And the king of Babylon in scripture
is the devil. And that's who Nebuchadnezzar
represents here. Now, there's also three kinds
of sinners pictured here. And I'll show you these as well,
but all these sinners, all kinds of sinners are all captive of
the devil as we come into this world. One kind of sinner is
God's elect. But all God's elect come into
this world captive of the devil. We see that in those that Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, took down to Babylon. He took them captive
and took them out of Jerusalem and carried them to Babylon.
And these represent God's elect, the good figs. But they're captive. They can't free themselves, they're
captive. And that's so with all God's elect. Now, another kind
of sinner are worldly sinners. Those who just live for the world.
But they're captive of the devil too. Now you just think there
was some people here that were left in Jerusalem. And they had
it pretty good in Jerusalem and they probably looked down upon
them that were carried away captive. But that group that remained
in Jerusalem, they were under the dominion of the king of Babylon
as well. The king of Babylon wasn't finished
yet. This was just his first trip
to Jerusalem. He was coming back two more times. And on the third
time, he's going to level the temple. Solomon's temple is going
to be destroyed and left being nothing but dust when he gets
through with it. But they're right now, they're captive under
the king of Babylon even though he left them in Jerusalem. In
fact, Nebuchadnezzar promoted Zedekiah and made him the king
of Judah. His name was something else.
Nebuchadnezzar even changed his name and named him Zedekiah and
made him the king of Judah. Who's bidding you think he's
doing? And then, these right here though, they
look like, they put you in mind of worldly sinners. And you've
got to remember this too. Sometimes, men in this world
who seem to prosper and who seem to just get the promotion and
just seem to move up in the world, as it was here, it's the king
of Babylon that's promoting them. It's the devil that's promoting
them. And then another kind of sinner are those who seek false
refuge in religion. And they're under the captivity
of the devil too. They're represented here by those
who fled to Egypt. There was a residue left in Jerusalem
and some of them, when they saw their opportunity, they left
Jerusalem and they fled to Egypt. And that's a picture of false
religion. Let me show you this. Go to Isaiah chapter 30. You
probably remember this too, Isaiah 30. God's describing false religion.
Listen to this, verse 1. Woe to the rebellious children
that take counsel, but not of me. They cover with a covering,
but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin, that walk
to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth, to strengthen
themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the
shadow of Egypt. Therefore shall the strength
of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt
your confusion." If you keep on reading there, he says, their
strength is to stand still. Their strength is to return and
come to me. So these that left God and sought
another refuge, sought another covering other than God are,
picture those who are in false religion trusting some false
refuge other than God. They're in the captivity of the
devil. Now there's a lesson here before
we move on. Those who appear to prosper in
the world and in religion, are often promoted by the devil while
the greatest captives to sin are God's elect. Now that's not
always the case, but very often that's the case. Those that appear
to prosper and have the most in this life and be promoted
to the highest or children of the devil being promoted by the
devil and then those who are suffering the greatest and appear
to be the greatest sinners are often God's elect that He's going
to call out and save for Himself. And the point of this is we shouldn't
conclude and draw a conclusion by those who are the greatest
sufferers and think they're the greatest sinners. They may be
the greatest sinners, but as far as we can tell, but those
others are just left to themselves. These are God's elect that he's
going to save. Let me turn to Ecclesiastes 9. Let me show you
what I'm trying to say. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Listen to this right here. Ecclesiastes
9 verse 1. For all this I consider in my
heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise
and their works are in the hand of God. No man knoweth either
love or hatred. You don't know the love of God
or the hatred of God by all that is before them. All things come
alike to all. There's one event to the righteous
and to the wicked. To the good, and to the clean,
and to the unclean. To him that sacrifices, and to
him that sacrifices not. As is the good, so is the sinner. And he that sweareth, as he that
feareth an oath. You see that? You just can't
determine these things by looking at what's going on outwardly. Now, so the first problem is
all sinners come into this world captive to the devil. No matter
what kind of sinner they are, they're captive to the devil.
And here's our second problem. Sin has separated us from God. Our guilt in sin has separated
us from holy God. God's elect here, Daniel and
Ezekiel, these ones represented by the good figs and all the
rest that were God's elect there, they were separated from the
land of Canaan, that land that pictured heaven. They were separated
from that land. They were separated from the
holiest of holies where the mercy seat was, a picture of Christ,
a picture of being separated from God. And they were carried
down into the land of the Chaldeans. Carried captive. That's a picture
of sin separating God's people from God. God said this in Isaiah
59, 2. Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God. And your sins have He displaced
from you that He will not hear. You see, God is holy. And He
can have no communion with a guilty sinner. His law has got to be
executed upon that guilty sinner and he's got to die. That's just
all there is to it. And you and I are the guilty
sinner. So God can have nothing to do
with us. We're separated from God in our
guilt. Now here's our third problem.
We have a vile sin nature, a wicked sin nature dead in sins, and
we can't change our sin nature. We can't change our sin nature,
nor can we change our guiltiness. Listen to Jeremiah 13, 23. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Are the leopard his spots? Then
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil. We can't
change these things. So here's our problem. Number
one, we're captives of the devil. Number two, we're separated from
God in our guilt. And number three, we have a sin
nature. We have a sin nature. So, those four nones that we
hear about in the Scripture, those four nones tell us what
this truth is. There's none righteous. There's
our guilt. There's none righteous. No, not
one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. This is our heart. It's in nature. You're all gone
out of the way. They're together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one. So, since this is
a condition, and this is my condition and your condition by nature,
that's a pretty dire condition, isn't it? We're like these captives
down there in Babylon. Nothing they can do. So then,
if there's going to be a difference between us, It's got to be God
that makes the difference, isn't it? God alone will be the one
that makes us to differ. How does He do this? How does
He make us to differ? What made the good figs good?
You know they weren't good in themselves. We just read there's
none good. So what made them good? First
of all, it was God's electing grace. Look at verse 5. Thus
saith the Lord, the God of Israel, the covenant God, Like these
good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive
of Judah. Acknowledge means to be acquainted
with, to care for, to have respect unto. Before making this world,
by his electing grace, God acknowledged His people in Christ before this
world was ever made. He acknowledged us in Christ.
Romans 8, 29, for whom He did foreknow, whom He did before
acknowledge. Them He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son. He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. and whom He predestinated, them
He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom
He justified, them He also glorified. Before He made the first grain
of sand, God did every bit of that. He acknowledged His people
in Christ. He acknowledged us in Christ.
He blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus according as He chose us in Him. before the
foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. How? Why? According to His goodwill,
to the praise of the glory of His grace. God's elect are those
He cares for. There was two sets of people
here. There was two different people here that were all captive
of the King of Babylon. God left some of them to themselves.
But the others, God was caring for them. He said, I'm going
to acknowledge them. I will acknowledge them. And
that's His elect who He cares for. He wasn't talking about
even amongst them that was carried into Babylon. He wasn't talking
about all of them. But He had some Daniels and some
Ezekiels and some down there that didn't even know Him. And
He acknowledged them in Christ because He chose them in Christ.
The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord
knoweth them that are his. Secondly, the difference is made
by God's predestinating providential grace. Look here in verse 5. He says, Thus saith the Lord
God, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, 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. For I will set mine eyes upon
them for good." You see, the king of Babylon thought he came
in there and took them captive and he was carrying them down
there and he was doing his will with them. And that's what the
devil thought when he entered in the garden and tempted Eve
and Adam ended up sinning against God and we all fell into sin.
The devil thought he was having his way. But God had his hand
on him. He was doing what God would have
him to do. And whatever the devil is permitted
to do in this world, he's doing what God purposed to be done. And the same goes for men. Nebuchadnezzar
himself thought he was doing his will. He was just doing what
God purposed before to be done. God's predestinating hand of
providence is upon all in this world and He's doing everything
for the good of His people. Even when it appears to you and
me that it's bad. We come into a lot of trials
and it looks really bad and as far as we're concerned it is
bad. And it hurts and it causes you
suffering and it causes you sorrow. But even amongst that, we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose. It appeared real
bad for Daniel. It appeared bad for Ezekiel and
Jeconiah and all those others in Babylon. But the things that
God does for us in this life, they may appear bad, they may
cause us sorrow when they start taking place. But when He got
them down there, you know what God did? God raised Daniel up
to a place of great honor in Babylon. You know what He's doing
for you and me right here in the midst of this land of Babylon?
He's raising us up to the honor of being Christ's trophies of
grace. That's what He's doing. He's
giving us the honor of being Christ's redeemed people right
here in the midst of this Babylon. They went down there in the land
of Babylon. God gave some of them estates. and great riches. You know what he's doing for
his elect in this world? He's preparing for us a dwelling
place. He's bringing us to dwell in
Christ and he's enriching us with the unsearchable riches
of Christ. That's what he's doing. You might
go through this life being the poorest man on the planet. That's
alright. If he's enriching you with these
riches of Christ. God made His elect down there,
He made them see their sins. The ones that believed on Him,
when they were in Israel, they were sinning against God and
they were being led away into idolatry. This was the chastening
hand of God's providence to send a king in there to take them
captive down to Babylon just like you would take your child
and bend him over your knee and give him a spanking to correct
him. God's using a king and a whole nation to correct his people
here and he got them down there and you know what he did? He
turned them from their sin. He brought them to repentance.
So whatever God's doing for you and me in this life when you
come into a trial and you're suffering, don't be like the
psalmist who cried out and said, oh, I'm looking at these men
who prosper and who they just seem to have everything they
want and you just get more and more and more. God said, I'm
just fattening them up for slaughter. But while you suffer and you
go through your trials, that's God's chastening hand keeping
you because He's a Father who loves His child. The parent who
won't discipline their child don't love their child. Nowadays you have people who
act like they're just going to let their children have free
reign and I'm going to wait on my child to make the best decision. They ain't going to do it. They're sinners. They're God-hating,
hell-loving sinners. They're not going to make the
best choice. That's what you and me are. What does our Heavenly
Father do? Those He loves, He chastens.
And He says to us in Hebrews 12, if a man doesn't chasten
his child, He's treating him like a bastard child. God chastens
His children that we might be partakers of Christ our holiness. That's why He does it. So, one, we're made to differ
by God's electing grace. Two, we're made to differ by
His providential grace. And three, we're made to differ
by Christ's redeeming grace. Now look here, verse 6. He says,
I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them
again to this land." What did we say separated them from that
land? What was that a picture of? Our sin, our guiltiness separating
us from God? God said, I'm going to bring
them back. He's going to bring His people into heavenly Canaan.
And I will build them. He said, my people are going
to be spiritual stones that I'm going to build up. They're going
to be my temple. I will not pull them down. I will plant them,
not pluck them up. How's all that going to be done?
The only way we're brought from the land of separation into heavenly
Canaan, into God's presence, into communion with God as His
holy temple, the only way that's happening is by our holy Redeemer. He's going to have to bring us
out of the captivity of the devil. Listen, go to Isaiah 49 and look
at this with me. Isaiah 49 verse 24. Shall the prey be taken from
the mighty? That's what you and me are. We're
the prey of one way mightier than we are. Are the lawful captive? Shall he be delivered? But thus
saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken
away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered, for I will
contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy
children, and I will feed them that oppress thee with their
own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood
as with sweet wine, and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am
thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. Now if you're a Jacob, if you
and I are Jacobs, then the mighty one is who's going to bring us
out of captivity. God sent his son to deal with
our guilt problem and he's the only one that could bring us
back into communion with God, back into heavenly Canaan. Disobedience
and sin separated us from God and Adam. Well, it's going to
take perfect obedience, perfect righteousness to bring us back
into that land where God dwells in communion with God. And that's
Christ. Not my obedience, not your obedience,
Christ's obedience. As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Our old man is crucified with
Him. This is what it's going to take.
What's it going to take? God can't have anything to do
with me because I'm a sinner. I have to die under the law.
And in Christ, my old man of sin, the old man of sin and all
his elect in you who know him, our old man of sin was crucified
in Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed. Not your
old nature he's talking about, he's talking about all that body
of sin, all your guilt and all your rebelling against God and
that whole book that God had against us that it might be totally
destroyed, totally blotted out so that there's no sin whatsoever.
That's what justification is, to be without any sin, any fault,
unblameable, There's no way one charge could
be laid to one for whom Christ died. And we're risen with Christ
now. And this is how we're brought
back into this land that we were separated from. He said, I'm
going to build you up. I'm going to build you up. Christ
is typified in Solomon. You remember David wanted to
build the temple and God wouldn't let him build the temple. And
he said, your son is coming through you. He's going to build my temple.
And that was, he was speaking of Christ, is who he was talking
about. And Christ is the one who builds up this house for
God. We're built upon the foundation.
Same foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Jesus Christ
himself being the chief cornerstone. He's the builder and he's the
foundation. Christ's work for his people
is eternal. Nothing can change God's mind
about it. He said there, I will build them
and not pull them down. That's a wonderful statement. Think about it. He didn't make
any conditions on that. He just said, I'm going to build
them and will not pull them down. No matter what. I will plant
them and not pluck them up. Christ said, the Father sent
me, he's anointed me to preach the gospel and to work this work
of righteousness. Why? That they might be called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and he might be
glorified. That's why we're not going to
be plucked up. Because God planted us and he's going to be glorified
for it. So we're made to differ by God's
electing grace, by His providential grace, by Christ's redeeming
grace, but remember we've still got another problem, don't we?
We've got a sin nature. How are we going to be saved
from that? By God's regenerating grace, by the Holy Spirit regenerating
us. Look at verse 7, Jeremiah 24
7, and I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. Who gives this heart? Where are
we getting this new heart? God says, I will give them a
heart to know me, that I am the Lord. Can anybody resist it? Is anybody going to resist God
doing this work? He said, and they shall be my
people, and I will be their God. For they shall return unto me
with their whole heart. Nobody is going to resist this.
God says, I'm going to do it. Nobody is going to stop it. And
when He comes, you and I who believe know this. You know this. Just imagine you're down there
in Babylon and you're captive and you love that land, you want
to be in that land, you want to be in the land of God, you
want to be in communion with God, you want to be back there
and you're captive. And one day somebody comes along
there and they tell you the good news that God has come and He's
opened up He's opened up the prison door. He's broken the
chains off of you. You're free to go. You're free
to go back. Return. Do you think Daniel is
going to have to be talked into going back to Jerusalem? You
think he's going to have to be talked into going back to the
temple? Back to the Holy of Holies? Back to where God's presence
is? You think he's going to have to be talked into that? No. And I'll tell you this, when
you were sitting there and you were hearing this gospel preached
and you were hating it, and then God began to show you, you're
in prison. You're bound. You're in darkness. You can't
do a thing about it. And you began to realize, I agree
with God. I'm in darkness. I can't make
myself believe. I can't do anything. I'm sinful
and I'm wretched and I can't do anything about it. And God
turned on the light. And the door was opened. And
God said, come to my son. And you can have free communion
with me in his righteousness, in his holiness, and I'll receive
you and I won't cast you out. And when that happened, and you
were sitting there, whether you was in a pew or you was at home
after you'd heard a message or you was riding down the road
listening to a message, wherever you was at, when God brought
that down from your head to your heart and you heard it, you came
out of the prison house. Right then. And there wasn't
nothing you could do to stop it, was it? There wasn't nothing
you wanted to do to stop it. When you have a will to do something,
you don't want not to do it. Isn't that right? When you have
a will to do something, and you're willing to do something, that
means I want to do it. You can't not do it. Your will
is to do it. And when He gives you that new
will, and that new heart, you're going to do what that will is.
I want to come to Him. and He'll receive you. So who
makes us to differ, brethren? God alone. God's electing grace. God's predestinating providential
grace. God's redeeming grace. God's
regenerating, calling, keeping grace. And Christ is going to
bring the last elect stone that He's redeemed and regenerated. He's going to bring it and assemble
it in this house. What's He going to be crying
to it? Grace. Grace. Everything is of grace. If you see what a captive sinner
we are, and you see that everybody is just like us, then you know
it's got to be by grace. It can't be any other way. What
becomes of these evil figs? It's a picture of the judgment
of the last day, verse 9. God said, I'll deliver them to
be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt,
to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt, a curse in all places
whither I'll drive them. God said, when He stood on this
earth, He said He's going to assemble them all. He's going
to put sheep on the right hand. He's going to put the goats on
the left. He's going to put the good figs on the right. He's
going to put the evil figs on the left. And then shall the
king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye, blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. And then shall he say also to
them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed into everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Have you heard anything
that I've said tonight? If you have, if you've really
heard it, you know what you'll do? You'll flee to Christ. You'll
flee to Christ. You'll cast all your care on
Christ. And as you do so, because you
can do so, and you're willing to do so, and you know, you'll
see, you'll know, I wasn't willing to do this. I was not willing
to do this, and now I am. And I didn't make the difference.
and you'll give God all the glory and all the praise saying He's
the only one that's made me to differ. The only one. That's
why God has done this whole thing. That's why He saves the way He
does. That's why He made this world. That's why it's still
held in store. He's gonna have every last one
of His elect people praise Him and give Him the glory for making
us to differ. May God bless it, I pray. Amen.