Let us turn to God's Word again
in the chapter that we read, Jeremiah chapter 33. And I direct your attention for
a while to the words that we find here at verse 3. In Jeremiah
33 verse 3, Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee
great and mighty things which thou knowest. not, in Jeremiah
chapter 33 and verse 3. Here is God's gracious call to
Jeremiah, a gracious call of God in the Gospel, and we see
that it is the second time that God's words have come to him. When he was in the prison in
the previous chapter, we are told of the words that came to
Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king
of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezza. For then
the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem and Jeremiah the prophet
was shot up in the court of the prison. which was in the King
of Judah's house. He was shut up then by Zedekiah,
because his ministry was so offensive. But then God's words came to
him. And now that word comes as we
read in the opening verse of chapter 33, the second time. Moreover the word of the Lord
came unto Jeremiah the second time. while he was yet shut up
in the courts of the prison. And now as God's words came to
him, so God's words had its effect. It was a word that had the effect
of moving him. It had then a blessed effect
as he was brought to call upon God and to pray to God as a result
of the words that thus came. But as we turn to the words of
the text, I want us to consider this gracious call and to consider
it in two particulars. First, here we see God's call
as a word of exhortation and then secondly we see it as a
word of encouragement. It is very much a word of exhortation. It's a word of command. When
we consider the person who is speaking, it is none other than
the Lord himself. It was the word of the Lord that
came on to Jeremiah. And as we have it there in verse
2, Thus saith the Lord, the Maker thereof, The Lord that formed
it, to establish it. The Lord is his name. This is the great God, is it
not? And now he speaks and with authority, but what grace we
see in this that God's word should come a second time. How God in the Gospel comes time
and time again. We think of course of Jonah. We read there in that short book
of Jonah of the disobedient prophet. when God's words came to him
in the first chapter and the words was that he was to go to
Nineveh that great city and he was to preach against it but
now he was disobedient to the voice of God and instead of departing
to go to the east to go to the city of Nineveh and speak to
the Ninevites he goes to Joppa and he takes a ship and he goes
in the opposite direction takes that ship that he is going far
off to the land of Tarshish or Spain the western extremity of
the Mediterranean he was disobedient when God's word came to him the
first time but God pursues the disobedient prophet and sends
a dreadful storm And God, as he were fingers, Jeremiah, he
is the one who is pointed out. He is the one who is the cause
of this terrible storm that has come upon the ship. And they
cast him overboard, he's swallowed by that great sea creature he's
spoken of as a whale in the New Testament. He's swallowed of
the whale there, and he is in the belly of the whale. three
days and three nights, but there from the Wales building we have
recorded in that second chapter of Jonah that remarkable prayer,
that prayer of Jonah, one of the great prayers that we find
recorded in the pages of Holy Scripture. He prays to God, he
says, out of the belly of hell, out of the belly of the grave,
and God hears his cry as he comes and acknowledges that salvation
is of the Lord and his cast up again out of the whale's belly,
and then in chapter 3, here is the grace of God, the word of
the Lord came the second time unto Joel. Oh what grace! The
word of the Lord came the second time, in spite of all his willful
disobedience, in spite of all his sins, God doesn't give up.
God comes again. This is God, you see, as He deals
with sinners in the Gospel, and we have it here. The Word of
the Lord comes unto Jeremiah the second time. And as I said,
when we consider the person who is speaking, there in that second
verse, three times, we have the covenant name. Thus saith the
Lord, the Maker thereof, the Lord that formed to establish
it, the Lord is his name. He is the God of the covenant.
That name, Lord, as you know, derived from what God said of
himself in Exodus chapter 3, the great I am, the unchanging
Jehovah who takes account of his children. And he comes and
he speaks gospel words. Call unto me, he says. Call unto
me. and I will answer thee and show
thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. What
does God say to us in the gospel? He bids us to speak. When God
comes in the day of grace to the sinner, He bids the sinner
to speak. Here is the command, call unto
me. Now how different is the law When God comes in all the terrors
of the law, what does he do? He silences the sinner. He silences
the sinner. We refer this morning to those
words in Romans 3.19, Whatever things the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped.
And all the world become guilty before God. That's the law. It
stops the mouth. Why the law is a ministration
of death and a ministration of condemnation. It stops them out.
The sinner has nothing to say. Because the law is that that
always condemns him. But then our time and again throughout
the scriptures, we have the gospel, we have it of course throughout
the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. We have those
words in the end of the book of the prophet Hosea. Take with
you words, he said. Take with you words and turn
to the Lord and say take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. These are the words of God's
servants, the prophets. They speak gospel words many
times. Come now, says Isaiah, as the mouthpiece of God. Come
now and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. It is such a gracious worthy
when God comes in the gospel. And this I say is very much a
gospel text that we have. It's a gracious call that God
is issuing here as he speaks to his servant Jeremiah. Call
on to mine remember I'll write at the beginning
we read of the sins or the sin of our first parents Adam and
Eve in the third chapter of the book of Genesis and then we see
the consequence do we not the mention of those two sons Cain and Abel. Cain is envious of his brother, kills
his brother. Or there is murder. There is murder so soon after
the fall of our first parents in Genesis chapter 4 and so Abel
is no more. But then we read of another son
that was born onto Adam and Eve And then we read of a son called
Joseph, a man called Enos. There in Genesis 4 and verse
26 and we have this remarkable statement at the end of that
verse. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. There
was still a godly seed you see, still a godly seed. And here
is the mark of the godly, they call upon the name of the Lord. Then began man to call upon the
name of the Lord. Are we those friends who call
upon the name of the Lord? Are we those who seek the face
of God, who cry to Him, who come to Him and cast all our cares
upon Him? Are we those who are in that
sense familiar with Him, not an unholy familiarity? Or we
would ever reverence His great name? And though we come there
is that sense in which in some way we shrink from him. We know something of the experience
of Peter there in Luke chapter 5, when Christ performed that
great miracle in the miraculous draft of fish. And though Peter
recognized whose presence he was in, apart from, O Lord I
am a sinful man, he said, falls down at the feet of Christ. He
is coming to Christ and yet he says, depart from me. He shrinks
from me. For there is accuracy in those
who call upon the name of the Lord. We must ever come with
all that proper awe and reverence in our hearts when we call upon
his name. We read in the New Testament
in 2 Timothy chapter 2 are those that call on the Lord out of
a pure heart. If we would call upon the name
of the Lord we must know something of that heart. Calling upon the
name of the Lord out of a pure heart. And do we not see whence
that heart comes? It's that heart that God must
give us. In the previous chapter of verse
39 here is the promise, I will give them one heart and one way
that they may fear me forever for the good of them and of their
children after them and I will make an everlasting covenant
with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good.
But I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart
from mine. How we need such a heart if we're
going to be numbered with those of whom the Apostle speaks there
in 2 Timothy chapter 2. Them that call on the Lord out
of a pure heart. We have not a pure heart by nature.
We have a sinful heart. We have a heart that is really
the sink of all iniquity. And it's out of the heart, says
Christ, that every evil thing proceeds. How we need then that
new heart. that new spirit that we might
be those who are truly calling upon the name of the Lord. And
what is the mark of that new heart? Why is the broken heart?
The broken heart and the contrite spirit God does not despise.
We have to come with that sense of our sinfulness and our unworthiness
when we call upon Him. We have to come with that spirit
of real penitence Or we come as those who would know what
it is to repent, how that repentance must be married to saving faith. He's married to saving faith.
It's a broken heart. That's your heart. And yet, strangely,
it's a whole heart. He shall seek me and find me,
he says, when you shall search after me with all your heart. Whole heart. Not divided, not
divided hearts. Yes, broken hearts, but not divided
hearts. Not a heart that runs after the
things of the world and the ways of the world, but that heart
that is set upon those things that are above. Oh, here is the
God then who speaks. He comes and He speaks such gracious
words. And He speaks such mighty words.
It's the language of the New Covenant, is it not? Call unto
me, you see. and I will answer them and show
thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not but besides
the one who speaks the God whose word it is let us also take account
of the one who is spoken to who is spoken to here it's God's
word to Jeremiah look at Jeremiah's situation Where is Jeremiah? Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up
in the court of the prison. As we said just now, it's there
at the beginning of the previous chapter, how Zedekiah had put
him into that prison, the time when the Babylonians came upon
Jude, But is there not some spiritual significance in this? God's word,
you see, comes to those, spiritually, who are shut up. These are the
ones that God addresses himself to, and says, call unto me. What
else can they do? They are shut up. He shutteth up a man, and there
can be no opening, we read back in Job, chapter 12, in verse
14, when God shuts up a man, He cannot free himself, he cannot
open his cell to release himself. Heman says in Psalm 88, I am
shut up and I cannot come forth. It's an impossibility. I cannot
come forth, I cannot extricate myself. And this is the way of God, is
it not? His word of grace in the gospel comes to that man,
that woman who is shut up. This is how God deals with us.
He shuts us up. And what does he shut us up to?
He shuts us up to what we are. He shuts us up to that awful
truth of our total depravity and all that that implies. What does it imply? Well, we're
impotent. We cannot release ourselves,
we are totally deprived, we are dead in trespasses and in sins. And this is that law work that
God does in the soul of a man, is it not? When he shuts that
man's mouth and pronounces him guilty. Before faith came we
were kept under the law, Paul says. Shut up! To the faith which
should afterward be revealed. Oh God shuts us up you see. And
it's no good saying to that poor man who's shut up in his unbelief
and his sin, no good telling him that he has a certain duty
to perform, that of himself he has got to some way or other
exercise saving faith. He cannot exercise faith. He
is learning that faith is but the gift of God. And saving faith
comes only through the operation of God. Shut up to that faith
which should after would be revealed. Real religion, as you know, is
all revelation. It's all the work of God coming
into the soul of a man. And how God speaks. And when
God speaks in the Gospel, it's a gracious work, yes, but it's
also a mighty work. Or there must be a response when
God speaks. He shuts the man up. But He shuts
the man up in order to save that man. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. That's a great word, is it not,
that we find in Psalm 27 and verse 8. When thou sayest, Seek in my
face, my heart said, Thy face, O Lord, will I seek. It's God,
you see, who has to bespeak that faith. When thou sayest, When
God says it, seek in my face, and it's an effectual work that
God accomplishes when he makes his word, that almighty and that
all-powerful word, that effectual call, when thou says, seek in
my face, my heart says, thy face, O Lord, will I seek. And we never can seek until God
comes and says it. and speaks the word home with
authority to our souls. Awake, thou that sleepest, and
arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Call unto
me, he says. Call unto me. The one who is
speaking is none other than the Lord himself. It is the word
of the Lord as we serve. There in the opening words of
the chapter. The word of the Lord, the word
of Jehovah came onto Jeremiah and he comes a second time. It's
God in his grace. He doesn't give over speaking
to the sinner. Thus saith the Lord, the maker
thereof, the Lord that formed it to establish it. The Lord
is his name. I am the Lord. I change not,
therefore ye sons of Jacob. are not consumed. What we have
here then, friends, in this gospel word is exhortation, but we have
more than exhortation, we also have encouragement. Is there
not a word of encouragement? God doesn't just say, call unto
me, he also gives a promise. Here is the encouragement. Call
unto me, he says, and I will answer thee. and show the great
and mighty things which thou knowest not. What an encouragement. There's a twofold promise here.
First of all, God says He will answer. He says He will answer. He doesn't just hear us when
we pray to Him. But He answers. He answers us. He shall call upon me and I will
answer him, we read in Psalm 91 and verse 15. He shall call
upon me and I will answer him. All the shalls and the wills,
you see, of the promises of God. All those promises of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ, they're not yay, no. All the promises
of God in him are yea and are many things. He shall call upon
me and I will answer him. He sang those words this morning
in the hymn of William Cooper, 967. That were a grief I could
not bear. Didst thou not hear and answer
prayer? Or is it true of us, do we think
of these words as we sing these words? Do we seek to meditate
upon the truth of them, the preciousness of these great verities? That's
where a grief I could not bear. Didst thou not hear and answer
prayer? God answers. He doesn't just hear us. He answers
us when we pray. I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seeking my face in vain. Oh, it is no vain thing, friends,
to call upon the name of the Lord. What a blessed occupation
is that, to be calling upon the name of the Lord. Now, I know we might say, well,
there are those times when I call, but it seems I get no answer.
Where does the fault lie? Is the fault really to be put
at God's door? Is it not rather to be put at
our own? Do we not have to look to ourselves? James says you have not because
you ask not. And you ask and you receive not
because you ask of this, but you might consume it upon your
thoughts. Oh friends, how do we ask? How
do we ask? Sometimes we have not because
we don't ask. But then sometimes we come and
we ask and yes, we must be those who would seek first God's kingdom,
God's glory. That must have the priority.
God's kingdom, God's glory. And then all these other things
we are told will be added on to us. The Lord Jesus Christ
himself speaks so plainly in the Gospel, does he not? Ask,
he says, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh
receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh
it shall be opened. How emphatic are the words of
Christ concerning those who ask, and seek, and knock, that they
can never do any of these things. in vying to no purpose. And yet
we look to ourselves, well I look to myself, I trust I look to
myself, and alas how slow to pry, how slow to pry. And yet, remember God's ear is
open, God's ear is open to our prayers, the eyes of the Lord
are over the righteous, And his ears are open to their cry, says
Peter. It's the Lord's Day of God's
eyes and God's ears. How he sees and knows us. And how God, as he sees and knows,
so he opens his ear. We have the very ear of God.
He will hear us when we cry to him. And he is that one of course
who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask of him. And yet many a time we are so
very straightened because of our own unbelief. Isn't that the lovely verse in
the hymn that we just sang before the sermon, 8, 9, 7, O Lord increase
my feeble faith and give my straightened bosom room. How we are so straightened
in our own hearts, straightened. It's a narrow heart, you see,
that Berridge is bemoaning. He feels so shut up and he wants
to have right views of God and large views of God. O Lord, increase
my feeble faith and give my straight and bosom room to credit what
thy promise saith and wait till thy salvation cometh. We need God to enlarge our scanty
thoughts and to have that persuasion that he is able, he hears us
and he answers us. Call unto me and I will answer
thee, he says. And that's an encouragement,
is it not? to have that assurance that God will answer our prayer
when we ask Him. You ask. You need faith, well
you have to ask God for faith. You need repentance, you have
to ask God for repentance. Isn't Christ himself the author
and finisher of our faith? Isn't Christ exalted a prince
and a saviour to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness
of sins? We have to ask. Ask and it shall
be given you. It is so simple, you see, this
way of salvation. Call unto me and I will answer
you. And show thee great and mighty
things which thou knowest not. Here is the second part of the
encouragement, another promise, but not only answers, God shows. And what does God show? Great
and mighty things. Great and mighty things. Now we cannot of course ignore
the context. It is that God is going to show
his goodness in the restoration of the Jews. They will be brought
again out of captivity. There is no doubt about that.
God will do it. verse 6, Behold I will bring
his health and cure and I will cure them and will reveal unto
them the abundance of peace and truth and I will cause the captivity
of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return and will build
them up as at the first he says and then he continues in verse
11 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 endures 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 the first death
of the Lord Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, again in this place
which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all
the cities thereof shall be an habitation of shepherds causing
their flocks to lie down. God is going to grant to them
a blessed restoration. There's no doubt about that. However, however, didn't Jeremiah
also know that? previous to this 33rd chapter. Did you not already know? Have
not you already spoken of restoration? Just go back a few chapters there
in chapter 29 for example. In verse 10, as specific God
is, Thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished
at Babylon, I will visit you. and perform my good work toward
you in causing you to return to this place. For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts
of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Seventy
years were to be accomplished in the desolations of Jerusalem
before the restoration. But it would come, and it was
these words, of course, that we see Daniel reading in the
book of the prophets, In chapter 9 of Daniel, he understands that
God would accomplish for 70 years and he reckons that the years
have now been accomplished and he sets his faith. He sets his
faith by prayer and supplication. All he pleads and he prays to
God. Wonderful chapter, isn't it?
Not Daniel chapter 9. He reads the word of God, does
the prophet Daniel, and what What does he do when he understands
the word of God? He doesn't just sit back and
say, ah God has said he will do it. He is no fatalist. God's word moves him to work,
he pleads with God, he prays to God. This is what God's promises
should do friends, they should move us to pray. Here then we see that Jeremiah
was already aware that there would be a restoration. Well, what then is it that God
is going to show him? Is it something other than that restoration? The word
is to be understood in a spiritual sense, surely it is. It's a gospel
word. I will show thee great and mighty
things which thou knowest not. It's more than the restoration
of the Jews. It's more than the restoration
of the Jews. It's spiritual blessings. It's good things. It's the establishing
of the new Jerusalem. Not just the restoration of old
Jerusalem. It's that new Jerusalem that
would descend from God out of heaven. that we read of there
in the 21st chapter of the book of the Revelation. It's that
new covenant and all that that new covenant entails, that good
and gracious work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't the chapter
clearly go on to speak of such things? Do we not read in verse 15 of
the branch of righteousness? David shall never want a man
to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel, neither shall
the priest, the Levites, want a man deforming to offer burnt
offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice
continually. Who is this David that he's spoken
of? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Who are these priests? It's the
priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the things
that are spoken of here in our text, great, and mighty things
which thou knowest not. See what it says in the margin
here. The word mighty, we're told,
could be rendered hidden things. Great and hidden things. Now, one of the things hidden,
of course, is that in the Gospel there is to be the calling of
the Gentiles. There were those things that
were hidden, that were to be revealed, and Paul, who was such
a proud Jew, who was a Pharisee and the son of the Pharisee,
who was schooled at the feet of Gamaliel, who was so well
established in Pharisaism and yet this is the man that the
Lord has chosen and appointed to be the Apostle of the Gentiles
and he is wonderfully converted. And remember how he writes to
the Ephesians concerning the things that were hidden which
are now revealed. There in Ephesians chapter 3,
for this cause I call the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is
given me to you would, how that by revelation he made known unto
me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when you
read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which
in other ages was not made known, unto the sons of men as it is
now revealed, unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that's
the Gentiles. should be followers and of the
same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel. Whereof I was made a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by
the effectual working of His power. Unto me, who am less than
the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach
among the Gentiles. the unsearchable riches of Christ
and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery
which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God who
created all things by Christ Jesus. These hidden things you
see, this is the gospel. I will answer thee and show thee
great and hidden things which thou knowest not. But is it not a truth, friends,
also that these hidden things we are to understand in a more
personal sense? When we think of that great promise
that comes in the Gospel, think of the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ concerning those who were saved and those who are not saved,
what does Christ say? There was hid these things. There
was hid these things from the wise, and foolish and revealed
them unto babes even so father for so it seemed good in thy
sight how these things have to be revealed, how Paul knew it
all his pharisaism all his great learning, his knowledge of the
Old Testament scriptures his knowledge of all the traditions
of the fathers, what was it? it was as nothing God must reveal
the truth to him when he pleads God, he says, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me. God
had to reveal his Son. There must be that revelation.
Now we have to pray to God that he would do it. Call unto me,
I will show thee grace and hidden things. Only God can say. Only
God can teach us these things. Oh, but what a gracious provision
is made in the gospel. And I say, this chapter, friends,
is full of gospel. There's the cleansing of every
sin, is there not? Verse 8, 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. Where is their cleansing? It is only in that fountain open
for sin and uncleanness. It is only in that precious blood
of Christ that was shed at Mount Calvary. There he poured out
his soul unto death. For there there was the shedding
of blood and without the shedding of blood there is no remission
of sin. It is Christ's blood that cleanses. Now Isaiah speaks
of these precious things again in chapter 50 and verse 20 it
says in those days and in that time saith the Lord the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the
sins of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon
them whom I reserve All God has reserved a people for himself,
set them aside for himself, and these are the ones you see, that
he comes and he calls so mightily and so effectually in the gospel,
and they know the cleansing virtue of that precious blood, how it
purges the conscience from every dead work, how it makes that
sin-stained sinner so clean, so pure in the sight of God.
But not only cleansing from sins, is there not here also that great
promise of imputed righteousness, clothing,
garments of salvation, a robe of righteousness? Verse 16, In those days shall
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name wherewith she shall be called, Jerusalem is going
to be called the Lord, our righteousness. It's the same name that belongs
unto the Lord Himself, is it not? It's that name that is also given to Christ. In chapter 23,
in verse 6, In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall
dwell safely. And this is the name whereby
He shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness. He is called
by that name in chapter 23 and verse 6. She is called by that
name in chapter 33 and verse 16. This is none other than the
Bride of Christ, is it not? She takes His name. He clothes
her with His Righteousness. She is His. All these are those
things then that God is pleased to show to those who call upon
Him. All that fullness of salvation
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, by terrible things in righteousness,
that they will answer us. We want the God of our salvation,
says the Psalmist. Call unto me, and I will answer
them, and show them, great, and mighty things, great and hidden
things, which thou knowest not. Oh, the Lord be pleased to move
us thus to call, to cry, to seek, to wait, to always come with
that blessed spirit of expectancy, not to be passive. Oh, there's
no place for that passivity, is there, if we're those who
are in urge with God. those who would do business with
the Almighty. We need to be those who are of
that same spirit that we see in Jacob at Peneo. When the angel
wrestled with him, his determination, I will not let you go, except
thou bless me. May the Lord be pleased to bless
his word to us. Amen.