May he please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
prophecy of Jeremiah chapter 31 and we'll read verse 18. The prophecy of Jeremiah chapter
31 and reading verse 18. I have surely heard Ephraim be moaning himself thus. Thou
hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke. Turn thou me and I shall be turned
for thou art the Lord my God. the reference to Ephraim in this
text is really a reference to Israel and of course by inference
it's also a reference to the whole Church of God so we can
believe this has a reference to all of us here tonight I have
surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus and so here we have
a statement Jeremiah makes. God speaks through Jeremiah these
words and what are they bemoaning? What is the Church of God bemoaning? Well, it's bemoaning in these
words. Thou hast chastised me and I
was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Well, we don't really
know whether this chastising was a real benefit or whether
it was something which the Church of God faced and perhaps didn't
benefit from as they should have done. So we can really take this
two ways. Thou hast chastised me and I
was chastised. The word here directs us then
to a picture and that's as a bullock unaccustomed
to the yoke. Well in this country of course
today we don't see really bullocks yoked together pulling plows
or whatever. But obviously it was a very familiar
sight in the days when this was written, and it is still, I believe,
a fairly familiar sight in parts of the world. I've seen it myself
when I was out in India, saw them putting yoke together and
ploughing the ground. And obviously, if two are to
be yoked together, they have to work in unison. But if they're unaccustomed to
being yoked together, unaccustomed to being tied and they can be
rebellious and they can kick and do all manner of things to
destroy the ability to work together now this really is a picture
I'm sure we can imagine, can't we? and perhaps you've seen these
situations where there are Buddhists who are unaccustomed to be tied
together and surely the analogy comes down to the church of God
and by nature all of us are born into this world as unconverted
sinners and we all perhaps are naturally against the things
of God against being yoked, joined to those things which are right
because in the case of a bullock of course they they have to keep
in line, they have to do as they're directed they're not allowed
to wander about as they want to but they are in that specific
situation and that is so really with regard to the Church of
God because we are blessed to have before us the Word of God
the Bible which indeed is that which yokes us together and directs
us And we should be concerned therefore that we are obedient
to the Word of God, that we follow the instructions set before us
in the Word of God and that we don't kick and struggle to try
and oppose things which God has set before us. The Lord has given
us his Word and what wonderful instruction there is from Genesis
to Revelation. And of course often We fail. We do not keep the Word of God
as we should do. We don't keep the Word of God
as closely as we should do. But perhaps we fret and we struggle
and we wish we could do this and we wish we could say that. Especially you young people here
tonight. The Word of God directs us in
that which is right and that which is wrong. And because of
that, the Word of God, by very clear inference, stops us doing
many things that the people of the world do. And we may not
want to obey the Word of God. And we may say and struggle,
well, why can't I do so and so? Why can't I do that? We don't
want to be restrained. We don't want to be controlled. What a wonderful blessing it
is if we are brought about like the Church of God spoken here.
A wonderful mercy. Thou hast chastised me and I
was chastised. That means from going contrary
to the Word of God that means doing things not in accordance
with the Word of God that means not pleasing God but pleasing
ourselves well we are here tonight and all of us have to answer
before God whether we are desirous to do God's will or whether we're
more keen to do our will well the devil wants us to do his
will Quite often our will correlates with the devil's will because
it's that which is pleasing to our flesh. We only have to go
back, don't we, to the book of Genesis in that third chapter
where Satan came in the guise of a serpent and tempted Eve
to do that which God had very clearly told Adam and Eve not
to do, and that which was to partake of the fruit of that
tree, of the knowledge of good and evil. But she succumbed to
the temptation of Satan. Now let us realize that Satan
hasn't lost any of his skill or any of his energy and he still
endeavors to deceive us so that we disobey the great and glorious
Word of God. Well, of course, We don't have
that situation now where there's a specific tree which we're forbidden
to eat. But there are many directions
in the word of God which guide you and guide me as what to do
and what not to do. And for a start, we have God's
10 commandments. They're not long, but they're
very simple. and you can read them in the
20th of Exodus they're there and they're precise and yet often
you see we don't want to perhaps obey them in everything especially
as we read about the Sabbath or the Lord's Day how that's
a day to be set apart a day to be kept holy a day not to do
our own will but a day to do God's will a day to gather together
to worship Him Well when I was young I wasn't very keen on the
Lord's Day, I wasn't very keen on not being able to do certain
things. Well it would be a blessing if
we do have a desire to do God's will and therefore as we may
be perhaps concerned to be joined to the Lord Jesus, yoke together
to Him then to not be found rebellious and rebelling against the Word
of God those Ten Commandments we don't often read them although
I think our Sunday School have learnt them all I wonder if they're
all remembered I wonder if I asked you tonight write down the Ten
Commandments. Well, it would be quite remarkable
if you could write them down perfectly without any mistakes. But those commands are very conclusive
and very full. And one of them is something
which I suppose in essence we all suffer from. And that is,
it says, Thou shalt not covet. And that means to want things
that we don't possess and to strive after them perhaps spend
a lot of time trying to get something that we don't have and yet you
see the Bible is very clear it tells us thou shalt not covet
it does tell us later on in the New Testament we are to covet
earnestly the best things we are to covet and seek after the
knowledge of God and the truth of God but all the things the
vain things of this world we are not to covet we should be
thankful for those things that God gives us and we should acknowledge
they are the gift of God and we can realize God gives us all
things that we really need and so in this verse we're told Thou
hast chastised me, and I was chastised. Perhaps we were going
after something which we didn't need, and perhaps it didn't come
to pass. Perhaps we were stopped from
getting it, stopped from doing it. Perhaps we weren't very happy
about it. And yet, you know, it's a wonderful
thing if in your and my life we can recognize that God has
put his hand upon us to stop us doing things which are not
in accordance with God's Word and do not profit our souls. Well, it's a good thing to ponder
and to consider. And so here we have this statement. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. yes bemoaning ourselves sad perhaps
about it not wanting to be stopped doing things and yet sometimes
there's a great tussle in our heart and I say that because
we have two natures we have the nature in which we were born
with and if we are a true believer we have that new nature that
God-given nature and that nature seeks after good things whereas
our old natures we might term it seeks after the things of
this world and wants the things of this world and so therefore
we are not to covet those things but we are to covet the best
things. And that really is centred on
a very simple statement, that we might grow spiritually, grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Would it be a wonderful blessing
if that is your and my desire. And to bring us there, we may
find that the Lord has chastened us in one way or another and
stopped us fretting and stopped us going after things which do
not profit. Well, I don't know your intimate
life, young or old, but you know before God whether that is true
and whether you do need perhaps a change in your attitude, a
change in your desires. And that's why Jeremiah here,
and let's not forget that Jeremiah lived in difficult times. when
Israel, for the most part, were disobeying the commands of God. And Jeremiah was a prophet, he
was a preacher, and he told the people right things. He wasn't
liked. On occasions he was put into
prison, and it was referred sometimes to a dungeon, a place deep down
and full of slime, A place he couldn't get out of, a very unhappy
place. And why was he there? Because
he had obeyed the Word of God. So if you and I are blessed to
obey the Word of God, don't always think it's going to have a good
result. I'll tell you this, you will
have the answer of a good conscience before God, and that's of great
value. But you may have to find there's
opposition because of standing out for the things of God, especially
in the day and age in which we live. There's so much evil. It's changed dramatically since
I was young. We see so much immorality, so
many wrong laws, abortion laws, things like that, and homosexual
laws. so wrong and wicked in themselves. And yet, you see, to stand out
against such things is not easy. It's not easy, but the Church
of God are commanded to do just that. Not just say it along with
a crowd. No, it's good to stand forth
and say with the right attitude, It doesn't mean to say that when
we speak against such things we're being self-righteous. No, but we should speak in the
fear of the Lord and always refer people to the Bible, the Word
of God. Don't just make statements which
you can't back up with the Word of God. Otherwise people will
think you're bigoted. you need to be able to refer
to the Bible as you may be able to speak the truth of those things
which are being done more and more in the age in which we live
which is so contrary to God's Word well these situations indeed
may be difficult and more difficult if we find that we're unaccustomed
to the yoke we're unaccustomed to doing these things we don't
want to do them because we don't want to bring difficulties into
our life we want to be thought well of by everybody we want
everybody to like us well there's one thing we do need and that's
to believe that God thinks well of us because we are a true follower
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ well As we spoke, I think
it was last week, it's a blessing to be yoked to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so here we have this statement.
Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed
to the yoke. And then he comes and says, turn
thou me and I shall be turned. The request here was to be turned
away from that which is wrong and turned to that which is right. That's a good thing, isn't it?
That's a good prayer, isn't it? Here was this desire for the
Church of God. Turn thou me. Now you see, if
God turns us, The blessing is that when God does something,
it's done with power and might. And God is able to do far more,
exceeding abundantly, than you and I can even think. We have such a kind and gracious
God. And so here was this situation. Israel, as Jeremiah says, Well
they'd been chastised, they were unaccustomed to these conditions,
to these rules, they didn't want to follow them and yet there
is this deep down desire turn now me. Well you know tonight
whether that could be a good prayer for you. Well it could
be a prayer that you desire God to turn you to the things of
God. and that means to turn you away
from things which are wrong you know the next verse I don't want
to go into much detail but the next verse says this surely after
that I was turned I repented that means that when God had
turned turned us around to go in an opposite direction What
a blessing it is to repent then of the wrong way which we've
been going and desire us then to go in the right way, the way
that God has turned us in. Yes, surely, he says, after the
I was turned, I repented. What a mercy then if we have
the evidence of God's work in our heart. And in this end, we
may indeed look and ask ourselves, the question whether God has
turned us whether God's turned us you'll have to answer that
question because no one else knows apart from you and God
as to whether God has turned your desires He's given you a
new heart He's given you desires after spiritual blessings He's
given you a desire to be united to the Church of God. To come
alongside the poor and afflicted people and to realize they are
the children of God. To have the wonderful evidence
of God's work. Now, the reality is that every
single one of us in our lives need the evidence that God has
indeed turned us turned us in an opposite direction a direction
in which we were born a direction following the things of this
world to the opposite direction which is following the things
of God a desire to know the things of God and above all to know
that the Lord Jesus Christ has died upon that cross at Calvary
to take away all our sins, all the sins when we were children,
when we were young people, when we were grown up, when we were
middle-aged, when we were old people. We all need to have the
evidence that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, has died in
our place. He bore the punishment instead. Has God then turn you? Has he turned me? Are we able
to look into our lives and have the wonderful evidence that we
can say well one thing I know whereas I was blind now I see
see spiritually the vast difference between time things and eternal
things. It's a wonderful blessing if
we can indeed look into our lives and see that we are a changed
person, that we possess a new nature, a God-given nature, that
God has shown us that we're a guilty, hell-deserving sinner and he's
shown to us the wonderful way of salvation. So you and I can
sit and hear the Gospel preached. You and I can read the Bible
every day. But what we all need is the gracious
application of the Spirit of God to apply His Word to our
very hearts, to our very souls. so that we do have the evidence
of spiritual life and don't be deceived by the devil because
the devil will try and convince you that you needn't really have
this, it's not very necessary you can get along quite well
without it, you can just read a few verses from the Bible every
day and that will suffice and then you can carry on with your
life just as you want to, well that's not in accord with the
Word of God the Word of God tells us very clearly that we are a
special people if we are the people of God and we're the special
people in this sense that the Lord Jesus Christ has given his
life so that we might possess life it's a wonderful thing isn't
it You and I cannot save ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. We
cannot remove sin ourselves. We need it to be taken away. We need it to be washed away. Indeed, the Word of God has a
very beautiful phrase, and that is that you and I need our sins
to be imputed to be put upon the Lord Jesus Christ and if
you think of that carefully that's a most amazing statement, isn't
it? to think that God remember the Lord Jesus Christ is God
the second person in the Trinity co-equal with the Father and
the Holy Spirit He is God to think that God Himself Himself
should love you and me so much that he was willing to die so
that you and I might possess spiritual life. It's an amazing
truth. It's a wonderful blessing to
have the evidence of that in our own hearts. And so I come
back to this question this evening. turn now me have we been turned? and again you see before God
you can be very honest because God knows all about you anyway
you don't have to pretend to be what you're not you can be
very honest and come to God and confess exactly where you are
and if you have to say well I don't think I've been turned I don't
think I know these things. Then, you see, you can come and
pray to God that He would indeed come and reveal Himself to you
as He does not unto the world. To reveal Himself to you as that
great and wonderful Saviour. And to also desire that you may
never underestimate the cost of your salvation. The cost of
our salvation required the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and
also the exceeding agony that the Saviour had to endure. Try and ponder the situation. There was Jesus from eternity.
Again, it's something that you and I cannot understand. We need
faith to believe the great truths of Scripture. Jesus was eternal. He'd always been with his father
and the Holy Spirit. And then there came that day
when he came into this sinful world. The Church of God, all the children,
all the people that God the Father had given to his son in eternity
past had to be forgiven of all their sins and there was only
one way that could be achieved and that was by the Lord Jesus
Christ himself coming into this sinful world and again just pondering
that for a moment to realize that Jesus was born in the very
meanest of circumstances No wonderful cot to be put in, no lovely clothes
to be put in. Placed in a manger, just the
word describes as swaddling clothes just to wrap the baby in. A manger that the animals would
eat out of. That was the humble beginning
the Saviour had and no one you see in this earth has a more
mean situation than that. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
willing to do that. And not only that, we're told
He humbled Himself, became obedient even to the death of the cross,
and going to the other end, from birth to death. Crucifixion is
the most painful death. So no one would be able to say,
well of course Jesus, He didn't suffer very much, and He had
an easy death. Not at all. He had a most excruciating
death. And we know, we get a little
view of that, because even on the cross, Jesus prayed to His
Father, if it be possible, take this cut from me, but it wasn't.
He had to endure the hiding of His Father's face, which He'd
never done before, and then to die that sin atoning death. But
what a glorious statement he made when he was able to dismiss
his spirit saying, it is finished. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
fail in that great and wonderful position that he'd been placed
in to redeem his church. And my friends tonight, What
a wonderful blessing it is if you and I have indeed been turned
by the power of God to recognise our lost condition and to realise
the glorious plan of salvation and to have the wonderful evidence
in our hearts that we are amongst those whom God has loved with
an everlasting love. We didn't read it all. It's a
long chapter, this 31st chapter, but the third verse in this chapter
reads like this. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, and therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. and that you
see is spoken to every one of God's children perhaps not in
specific words just like this but the truth is that God has
loved us and he loved us so much that he's come into this sinful
world to die that death on our behalf we read that 80th Psalm
of Asaph, which is a very lovely psalm. And you may have noticed,
probably not, but you may have noticed that three times this
verse is quoted. Turn us again, O God. and cause thy face to shine and
we shall be saved. It's a very wonderful positive
statement, isn't it? Turn us again. Perhaps we've been turned in
our life. And perhaps we've gone backward.
Perhaps we've become hard-hearted. Perhaps we've been turned away
from the things of God. Perhaps they've been pushed into
the background. Perhaps they don't dominate our
lives now. Perhaps many other things dominate
our lives. And yet you see here is Asa asking,
turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine. It's a very simple statement,
isn't it? He didn't want other things.
He wanted the blessing of the Lord. And that's in the third
verse that we're able to read that. And then again in the seventh
verse, the same words. Turn us again, O God of hosts,
and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. What a mercy in the last verse.
in this psalm also is the same. Turn us again, O Lord God of
hosts, cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved. The vital
thing for all of us, isn't it, is that we are saved from the
wrath to come. My friends, unless we have the
wonderful evidence that we are born again by the Spirit of God,
that we possess that new nature then we shall be lost eternally
oh my friends a blessing it is to realise this great desire,
this great truth as Asaph says, turn us again perhaps we need
that turn us again revive thy work in the midst of the years
Send now prosperity. We want to be healthy. We want
to be lively in the things of God. Turn us again, O Lord God
of hosts. Cause thy face to shine. So look upon us, you know. If God's face shines toward us,
what do we see? We see the light of the gospel. glorious lines. in the face of
Jesus Christ. What a wonderful blessing that
is then. No wonder it was Asaph's desire
that the Lord might indeed shine upon him like that. How wonderful
to have such a blessing as that. Well, may we desire indeed as
Paul the Apostle tells us in a verse which I often quote and
I never Never weary in quoting it, and that's in the 2nd Corinthians,
the 4th chapter, the 6th verse. For God, who commanded, don't
lose sight of that, commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts. You see, to all the people of
God, God commands that light to shine. And if God has turned
us to worship Him, it's because That light, the glorious light
of the gospel has shone and Paul tells us what it's like. The
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's a glorious statement. What a wonderful blessing if
you and I have that real living desire to appreciate and to rejoice
in this light which God shines into our heart. We were born
in darkness, spiritual darkness, But when the Lord shines, the
light comes. And perhaps indeed, tonight we
need that to be renewed. Well, He is able. What a blessing we have a God
who is able to do such things. And so, here we have then Jeremiah
saying this here tonight. Turn thou me. Speaking here in
the singular, turn thou me. And it's true for all of us.
Turn thou me. And if God turns us, what he
says then is so true. I shall be turned. You see, God never does things
half-heartedly. What God does, what God says,
is done. And so this word is very true,
and I shall be turned. It's a good thing, you see, if
we come to God believing. He is a God who hears and answers
prayer. A God who does indeed deal with
us in love to our souls. So, turn thou me, excuse me,
and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God. my friends I wonder tonight whether
you and I are blessed with living faith like Jeremiah was able
to and come and say for thou art the Lord my God you know
we will be able to say it if we have the evidence of God's
work in our soul if we have the evidence that we are born again
by the Spirit of God. And as I've already said, the
truth of those words being worked out, whereas I was blind, now
I see. The Lord has shone that light
into our heart so that we do see then we are able to say humbly
and it will be humbly to think that Almighty God shall look
down upon such an unworthy sinner and have mercy for thou art the
Lord my God. Now these are very special words,
they're very important words because each one of us before
we die want to be able to say not a hope so, but by the grace
of God, positively, like we have here. See, the Word of God gives
us so many wonderful testimonies and so many wonderful words to
encourage us and to direct us and to give us that blessed assurance
that we are right with God. That's the most important thing,
isn't it? It's not what people think of us. It's not what we
do in this world. It's to have the evidence that
we are right with God. And if we have the evidence that
God has come and touched our hearts and blessed us with spiritual
life, it's the evidence that we do possess life. And if we
do then possess life, surely we can say, by the grace of God,
I have been turned God has turned me, not me. God has turned me. I haven't turned myself. God
has turned us. You see, when God does these
things, they are done. And we don't forget them. Because
it's God's work. You and I forget many things.
What a blessing it is when God works in our hearts. And it's
there engraved. As it were, with an iron pen
upon stone. And you and I won't want to lose
it. We'll want to know it. We're not to be reminded of it.
And we want to bless God for it. Well, for thou art the Lord
my God. Well, there's a number of questions
we pose tonight. I hope you may be able to answer
in a positive way. because the Word of God is precious
and God has given us His Word and that's a wonderful blessing
but also it's a great responsibility and I say that because you see
you and I are therefore without excuse you and I won't be able
to stand before that judgment seat, before that great white
throne, with a savior, the judge of all the earth. And they'll
say, well, I don't know. I didn't know. I never really
noticed. I never really read the word
of God. Well, my friends, excuses will never mount up, will never
count. But my friends, you and I tonight, by the grace of God, are still
on praying ground. And so, therefore, may it be
that such a word like this is our prayer. And may we then pray
it, and may we watch and wait for answers for the fulfilment
of it. And then when it occurs, or maybe
I look back and say, well, by the grace of God, it has occurred.
And I am what I am. Praise God. Praise God. Indeed, from whom all blessings
flow. Well, then, here's this verse
tonight. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me and I
was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me. And I shall be turned, we will
be, if God turns us. For thou art the Lord my God. Amen.